


Sector 7

by TheSixtthDegree



Category: Naruto
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Gen, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Mystery, Science Fiction, Space City, other background relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:14:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 67,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25816372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSixtthDegree/pseuds/TheSixtthDegree
Summary: The city-shipKonohais nearing a turning point in its generation-spanning mission, to explore the furthest reaches of space and establish the first human colony outside the Earth solar system. Approaching its third planetary exploration site, a very likely candidate for habitation, spirits are high, even as the crew lays their previous Commanding Officer to rest.On the night of the funeral, a strange disappearance occurs among the crew, and the ship’s Chief Consul is tasked to investigate. Sasuke Uchiha complies, but he could not have possibly anticipated the tangled web of secrets that he would discover.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke, Hatake Kakashi/Mitarashi Anko, Hyuuga Hinata/Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sarada/Uzumaki Boruto
Comments: 15
Kudos: 48





	1. You Are Relieved

“Today we bid farewell to one of our own, and return her to the stars.”

Keeping his head bowed respectfully, as was proper, Kakashi Hatake snuck a glance around him at the room full of people. Some had been friends of the departed, some family, some were high-ranking naval members, and some simply been invited as a means of serving social protocol. 

Despite all their differences, on that night they shared this moment. They shared grief.

Kakashi let his gaze return to Tsunade, lying inside the clear steelite casket. All her years in command of the _Konoha_ had hardly touched her, and to see her lying there, you could nearly mistake her for being asleep, were it not for the carefully-pressed funeral uniform she wore, and her Admiral’s insignia held loosely in her white hands. Kakashi absent-mindedly touched at his left breast pocket, where his own insignia now rested. The small, heavy pieces of meteoric rock were individually crafted for each Commanding Officer of the _Konoha_ , and were a very personal reminder of the mission one had to serve the ship and everyone living on it. The only time it was EVER displayed publicly was when that mission was complete.

It was hard to believe she was gone. Anyone who knew her would have sworn she was too stubborn to follow Death on his path to whatever lay beyond this life.

Beside him, Sasuke Uchiha, his Chief Consul, stirred ever so slightly. It would have been imperceptible to anyone in the room besides him, and maybe Sasuke’s wife (even then, it was debatable; Sasuke was so devoted to his work that Kakashi had probably spent more of the last fifteen years with him than Sakura had.) The dark-haired young man stood at a perfect parade’s ease, his posture just as excellent as every other aspect of his job performance, but even he was unable to completely hide the effects of tonight’s service.

And affected he was, just as they all were. For all of her brash tendencies, occasional rudeness, and rather unfortunate vices, Captain Tsunade had been beloved by naval crew and civilians alike. Already, in the past few years after her (begrudging) retirement, Kakashi had been feeling the effects of the very large shoes he’d been made to fill.

The Commanding Officer of the _Konoha_ let his gaze drift, every so carefully, around the room, taking in the rest of the attendees. The funeral was a fairly small one, as most services on-ship were, for necessities’ sake. He saw Naruto Uzumaki, standing against the wall to his right, absent-mindedly scratching the back of his head. On the other side of the room, Tsunade’s closest friend Shizune Shurenai was standing arm-in-arm with her husband, Genma. Standing at the head of the casket was Commander Inoichi Yamanaka, his Consul of Operations, and the ship’s appointed cleric. Standing at parade’s ease on either side of him, a few steps behind, were the other two members of the ship’s command team: the Consul of Advancement, Fugaku Uchiha, and the ( _very_ young) Consul of Information, Shikamaru Nara.

 _All of these youngsters, filling the upper echelon._ Kakashi's lip twitched beneath the mask that covered the lower half of his face. Shikamaru, Sasuke… even he himself had been quite young when his career had begun being guided toward assuming command of the _Konoha._

People had called him a prodigy, ever since he’d graduated from the Academy, setting records all throughout his time there; records that, incidentally, had almost been completely broken by the very man who now served as his second-in-command. But none of his training, nor his decades of service, had truly prepared him to be “given the reins”, as Tsunade called it. One of her favourite old Earth expressions.

She had tried, and it was thanks to her that he was even as prepared as he was. But there was truly no way to know how it felt to carry an Admiral’s insignia until you did. He only hoped he could do even a third of the job she’d done in preparing Sasuke for when his time came.

Bowing his head once again, he resumed listening to Inoichi deliver the funeral address.

* * *

“The Mother watches over us all, from our birth, to our journey beyond. May she guide Tsunade Senju down that next path, and deliver her safely into the waiting arms of her dark brother.”

Across the room, Naruto Uzumaki was shifting his weight from one foot to the other, trying his best to be as inconspicuous as possible- and probably failing. Subtlety wasn’t something he prided himself on.

These sorts of formal services weren’t his cup of tea- boring and stuffy things, for the most part, and he’d always been a believer in speaking with actions, rather than words. A Petty Officer attending the funeral of the ship’s CO was exceptional in itself, which would have given him leave to excuse himself from the proceedings when the invitation was issued.

But he couldn’t, not this time. Not for the woman who had taught him so much.

So he bit his tongue and kept his head bowed. For Tsunade, he could stay silent for one ceremony. 

He’d received a few sideways glances when he’d arrived (not quite late, but very nearly) for the funeral, but most of those in attendance knew Tsunade very well, and therefore knew of the relationship they shared. For most of his life, Naruto had thought of her as a second mother. A foul-mouthed mother who drank a bit more than was socially normal, and gambled a bit more than that, but a second mother nonetheless.

Many of the glances he’d received were less directed at him, and more polite surprise at the fact that he’d come without his wife. As the Prelate of the Records cell, and a more reserved person in general, Hinata was much more comfortable at these sorts of functions than he was. Unfortunately, she was spending the evening with her sister Hanabi, and he knew that for her to decline an invitation to an event like this there had to be an excellent reason for her absence. Already he had heard mutterings wondering about why she would be missing, rumblings of disapproval at her lack of respect for the late Admiral. One more reason for him to compose himself, and represent them both well.

He stole a quick glance at Sasuke, standing about a pace behind Admiral Hatake’s left shoulder. As stoic as ever, the man literally looked as though he were carved from stone, and Naruto had to suppress a grin. Over the years he’d tried so hard to convince Sasuke to lighten up, and take life a bit less seriously- and even though he was much more relaxed than he’d been when they went through the Academy together, his parade presence was still second to none on board.

Maybe he’d try to convince Sasuke to come for a drink after the service tonight. It’d been months since they’d spent any time together, and Naruto was aching for a chance to catch up with his best friend.

Settling back against the wall, doing his best not to look as though he was leaning, Naruto returned his attention as best as he could to the funeral rites.

* * *

As usual, Sasuke’s carefully modulated expression hid a veritable whirlwind of activity in his brain. 

A tiny ember of guilt burned away in his core for how he was thinking; surely, if there was a time and place for him to disengage and stop thinking about work, Tsunade’s funeral would be it. But he couldn’t help that he thrived on his work, and his brain simply ran a light-year a minute.

Besides, he had plenty on his mind. In less than two weeks (sensors predicted 10 days, with an accuracy factor of 93%), the Konoha would be arriving at Exploration Site III. Site III was the first site they would be surveying that had been determined by the Exploration Cell to have a survivability factor of above 70%, and in fact, it was sitting at a frankly incredible 89% survivability factor. This was by far the closest the ship had come to completing its mission, after 82 years and two unsuitable planets. By this time next month, the Konoha could be in orbit around a planet containing the very first exo-Solar System human settlement.

And what then?

That was a question for later. Right now, the logistics of exploring the planet’s surface spun through Sasuke’s head like an exceptionally well-controlled hurricane. Over the last few months, he and Neji Hyuuga, the Prelate of Helm, had been running drills and simulations with the helm crew to ensure they were totally prepared for approach and entry into stable orbit patterns. The Exploration Cell had already begun taking whatever readings of the planet they could across the tens of thousands of miles still between it and the ship, and were diligently preparing for more detailed investigation and, hopefully, small-craft landings. 

All was proceeding exactly as it should, and Sasuke was determined to make sure it stayed that way.

Across the room, Sasuke noticed Naruto, standing with his hands clasped behind his back, his shoulders ever-so-slightly pitched backward to allow him to rest his weight against the dark grey titanium of the wall behind him. Probably thinks no one can see him leaning. Sasuke couldn’t help but smile slightly to himself. Naruto might not be the more proper crew member on the ship, but the man had been his best friend for about as long as either could remember.

Another warm coal of guilt settled in his chest, this time lamenting his duties to his friend. His work consumed him so much that he hadn’t seen Naruto in… what had it been? Weeks? Maybe even months?

_I’ll have to visit. Soon._

Naruto had rescued him from a very dark place, when they were both seniors at the Academy. He’d been pushing himself to the brink of physical and mental exhaustion, every single day, venomously pushing away everyone close to him. 

It had started when Itachi left. And very well could have continued until he worked himself into the infirmary, or worse, if Naruto’s utterly indestructible goodwill hadn’t finally managed to shatter the iron maiden of negativity he’d been slowly building for himself.

He owed Naruto his life, certainly metaphorically, perhaps literally. 

_Soon._

He watched a bit longer, as Naruto’s head slowly started to droop to one side.

_And while I’m at it, I’ll have a word with him about his parade stance._

* * *

Sakura Uchiha stood at parade's ease beside her husband, not bothering to try to hide the tear tracks on her face. 

Tsunade had meant so much to so many people. She knew that everyone in the room carried grief in their hearts, to varying degrees. But she knew that few of them had shared a relationship like they had.

Tsunade had been phenomenally gifted in the practice of medicine, having studied it very briefly before the launch of the Konoha 82 years ago. However, she was quickly eyed as third-in-line for command of the ship, and as such was immediately inserted into the initial crew as Prelate of Helm, a common role to prepare future Commanding Officers. Then, when Danzo Shimura had been killed in the riots in the Maintenance Sector, abruptly shifting her to next-in-line to command, she was thrust into the role of Chief Consul early, to prepare her to succeed old Admiral Hiruzen Sarutobi. As such, her passion for the medical arts had very little, if any, chance to manifest in her work.

Instead, she taught Sakura. It wasn’t hyperbole to say that the late Admiral was responsible for nearly everything Sakura knew. She’d studied fleet medicine at the Academy, of course- she’d known from a very early age that the Medical cell was her calling- but without Tsunade, there were a thousand intricacies and specialties that she never would have truly mastered. Sakura was now the Prelate of the Medical Cell, working directly under Commander Yamanaka, and her career success was due in no small part to Tsunade’s tutelage.

And now she was gone. It felt like a piece of Sakura’s chest had been carved away and left exposed to the blackness of space.

Keeping her stance, she reached out her right hand toward Sasuke. Without looking, or even giving any other indication that he’d noticed, he reached out and took it, squeezing gently. 

The contact made Sakura feel a bit better. It wasn’t proper parade stance, technically, but given the circumstances of the evening no one was going to raise a fuss.

 _Although, if anyone was going to…_ Sakura let her gaze slowly pass over the two figures standing on the far side of the room, at the foot of Tsunade’s casket. Asuma and Kurenai Sarutobi’s faces were both perfect pictures of despair, and though Sakura had no doubt that there had to be at least some genuine grief between the two of them, she’d wager it wasn’t much.

Asuma was the son of Admiral Hiruzen Sarutobi, the first Commanding Officer of the Konoha. His role on the ship was no secret; he was here to make sure that the Sarutobi Family was well-represented and satisfied with the progress of the hugely significant (and massively expensive) expedition they had financed. 

Asuma had attended the Academy, but by the time he was prepared to graduate, the line of succession to Commanding Officer had already been set as close to stone as it could be, and there was no place there for him. Following that realization, he claimed “personal trauma” as reasoning for not graduating the Academy and entering the Naval Corps, instead putting his good name and his father’s money into financing several business ventures aboard the Konoha. Asuma and Kurenai were now fabulously wealthy, incredibly comfortable, and trusted by most of the ship- Sakura included- about as far as they could throw both at once.

In practice, the Commanding Officer had full authority over the Konoha, and Asuma’s lack of any recognized position or rank meant he should have little influence over matters of ship governance. However, as the old Earth phrase said, “Money talks”, and as such, Asuma spent a great deal of time inserting himself into every situation he could, nearly always as a foil to the whims of first Tsunade, then Kakashi. On several occasions, he had been a hair’s breadth away from causing severe trouble for Tsunade based on some of her more questionable habits, and only through the support of her very dedicated command team was he prevented from ousting her on grounds of unsuitability to command. Kakashi, with his significantly more stable persona and dependable results as CO, had forced Asuma to stop his public bids for more control of the ship, but Sakura had never been able to shake the nagging feeling of a shark, circling in the water, just waiting for the slightest whiff of blood.

Forcing herself not to think any more about the machinations of the Sarutobi heir, Sakura cast her mind back to her more pleasant memories of Tsunade. She remembered the birth of Sarada, when Tsunade had been the very first visitor through the doors of the medical bay to meet her. Sasuke told her later that day that Tsunade had actually blown off the weekly command meeting to see her, and had given exactly zero notice to the rest of the command team that she would not be attending; Kakashi had been forced to mediate the meeting with no preparation, and Sakura had laughed until her whole body hurt at the thought of the poor man trying to maintain control of Fugaku, Kushina Uzumaki, Jiraiya Hikigaeru and Sasuke all at once with no warning. 

Tsunade was so proud of Sarada, Sakura knew that much. Her daughter had graduated the year prior, and was posted directly to the Helm crew, which reflected very highly on her abilities; in that, as well as many other regards, she was truly her father’s daughter. And no matter how hard Sasuke worked, no matter how many friendships strained under his lack of attention, he _always_ found time for Sarada. It was what Sakura loved most about him.

Squeezing her husband’s hand back, she let go and returned both hands to clasp behind her.

* * *

Many levels above the funeral chamber, on the Konoha’s bridge, Lieutenant Neji Hyuuga was on duty, supervising the operations of the Helm crew. The day shift had left, and he was preparing to leave himself; the last item on his to-do list was to wait for acknowledgement of the mission status report, beamed to Earth 18 minutes ago. The massive distance the message travelled meant that the transmissions had to be impossibly precise, and every now and then, reports were missed, so he made a habit of not leaving until he was sure that Earth had received the data. These back-and-forth exchanges, once every ship’s day, were the only contact the ship had with its point of origin. 

Neji had heard stories that, in the ship’s early days, many of the helm crew were uncomfortable with the near-total radio silence from Earth. Neji had decided nearly immediately upon his assuming command of the bridge that he preferred it this way; it kept him focused on the here-and-now. Earth was so impossibly distant that there was literally no way for them to affect the ship’s operations, or vice versa, so why worry? Everyone on board knew that this mission was one way. None of them would ever see Earth, but if the Exploration Cell’s readings were to be believed, they would see an entirely new world.

Neji never would have admitted it, but he was excited. Incredibly so.

“Lieutenant Hyuuga? Sir?”

Neji turned to the sensor operator on duty, a young Ensign named Sarada- Sasuke and Sakura’s daughter. A very perceptive and motivated young woman, Neji had been immediately pleased to have her assigned to him. She had a very bright career ahead of her.

“Report, Ensign.”

“Sir, the Byakugan has tracked a small meteor on approach toward the ship, but it’s passed into the blind spot. Shall we deploy countermeasures?”

Neji licked his lips. The Byakugan was the ship’s master radar, designed by engineers of the Hyuuga Family Corporation. It was incredibly powerful, able to provide sensor readings for miles around the ship, but the nature of its design meant that the sensors had a small blind spot located at the base of the radar where it was fixed to the bridge.

“Let’s take a look first, Ensign. Switch to exterior view, beneath the ‘Gan.”

“Hai, Sir.”

Standing beside Sarada’s console, Neji watched the complex linework of the Byakugan’s sensor readout be replaced by an image, showing the view toward the rear of the ship, directly underneath the sensor module. Sure enough, a small shiny object could be seen floating in the vicinity of the ship, several thousand feet back.

“Get me telemetry on the meteor.”

Sarada pressed a few keys on her console, and the image on the screen suddenly expanded, becoming a 3-dimensional hologram of the image floating in front of them. The holographic meteor began emitting a series of thick red lines, showing a path along the surface of the ship, before passing by the bridge and continuing on into space.

“It looks like we won’t need to worry. Hold the countermeasures, but keep an eye on the projected course for the next little while just in case.”

Sarada nodded, already directing her full attention back to her console. Satisfied, Neji returned to his station to see a message from Earth flashing on his data pad. 

_Report Received. Well All._

Nodding, Neji tapped the screen and logged the message, before packing his data pad into a pocket on the leg of his uniform coveralls. Then, with his final act complete, he turned and exited the bridge, pausing at the doorway to raise a hand to night shift crew.

“Good night, everyone.”

* * *

“We come from the stars, and to the stars we return, to make our final journey.”

Back in the funeral chamber, Kakashi remembered the last conversation he’d had with Tsunade. It had been less than twelve hours ago, when the ship’s medical staff had discreetly informed him that the end was imminent.

_He was sitting next to her bed, watching her lying there, taking such horribly long, slow breaths. No matter how strong she was, how ageless she had always looked, finally time had caught up._

_“Kakashi.”_

_He blinked. She had turned her head, ever so slightly, to look at him. Her eyes burned, a brilliant golden yellow, just as bright as they always had. If you could only see her eyes, you would believe that she was prepared to make Death himself wait._

_“Hai, ma’am?”_

_“Oh, cut that shit.” She tried to wave her hand dismissively, but all she could manage was a vague sweeping gesture with her wrist. “You know as well as I do that I’m beyond pleasantries.”  
She looked him directly in the eye, vivid gold to inky black. “Reach under my pillow.”_

_Kakashi blinked, unsure if he’d heard correctly._ By the Mother, don’t tell me her mind is going. I was afraid this-

_“Just do it! There’s something under there I need you to have.”_

_Kakashi sighed, and very carefully lifted her head with one hand while reaching under her pillow with the other. To his mild surprise, his fingers closed around a small, cool object. His mild surprise became bemused disbelief when he saw what he held._

_“...you’re giving me a nearly-empty bottle of whiskey?”_

_Tsunade’s eyes gleamed, and she laughed weakly. “Open it, and see what’s inside.”_

_As he brought the bottle toward him to open, Kakashi immediately realized that he’d been wrong; the weight of the bottle was all wrong to be liquid, and there was something clinking off the insides. Unscrewing the cap, he upended the bottle over his palm. A small sliver of blue circuitry fell out of the neck with a soft thud._

_Kakashi’s eyes narrowed in confusion over his mask. “A data card?”_

_Tsunade nodded, turning away from him and laying her head back to gaze at the ceiling. The artificial sunlight created by the windowscreen on the wall beside her was beginning to sink below the virtual horizon._

_“Old Hiruzen gave me that key, just before he kicked it. He told me I was to keep it, until our new home had been found, then access the contents.” She looked at Kakashi out of the corner of her eye. “I’m telling you the same now. When we reach Site III, if it’s all that Exploration is making it out to be, once you’re safely in orbit, watch that recording. If it’s not, then give it to that handsome protege of yours, when your time comes.”_

_Not even Kakashi’s mask could hide his confusion at this point. “Admiral Sarutobi gave you this? Without telling you what’s on it?”_

_Tsunade turned to the side once again, looking into his eyes for the last time. All at once, he was horribly aware of just how old she looked- but her eyes burned like the sun, just as they always had._

_“I don’t make the rules, kid. I’ve done my part, and it’s your show now. Now let me sleep.”_

“Admiral Hatake? The last word is yours, sir.” 

Kakashi roused himself at the sound of Inoichi delivering the traditional ending line of the funeral rites. Stepping forward, he placed one hand on the cold surface of Tsunade’s final resting place. For the briefest of moments, the words of response stuck in his throat; he hadn’t been required to perform many funerals in his command thus far, and none had affected him like this one. 

“Admiral Senju, you are relieved. May the stars guide you home” 

Without a sound, the casket pedestal lowered slowly into the floor, bound for the airlock, and the depths of space beyond. And beyond that? Who knew. 

* * *

As the funeral of Admiral (ret’d) Tsunade Senju concluded, and the mourners began to mingle and share their fond memories of the departed, deep in the massive vehicle bay of the _Konoha_ , a hooded figure approached the rear wall of the space. Walking along a thin, metal catwalk that snaked its way around nearly the entire perimeter of the room, the figure looked back the way it had come, considered for a brief moment, then continued walking. 

Once they reached the stern wall of the hangar, the main catwalk took a ninety degree turn to the left to follow the hangar wall. However, tucked away so as to be barely noticeable, a small service shaft cut into the sheer surface of the titanium, leading down into the depths of the ship. The figure climbed onto the ladder and began descending into cramped space, the darkness lit only by the dim fluorescence of the occasional service light sunk into the shaft’s walls. 

At the bottom of the service shaft, a lone door stood, much older-looking than the sleek new implements throughout most of the ship. A dusty and rusted sign adorned the top of the door frame, reading “Maintenance.” Below that, a much larger sign hung down in front of the door itself: “ADMITTANCE TO AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.” 

The shadowy figure knocked on the door, paused for a few seconds, then knocked twice more. For a moment, there was silence. Then, with an agonized grinding sound, the door slid open, revealing a scruffy, short man wearing oily working coveralls. His face was smeared with grease, he looked at the shadowy figure distastefully. 

Pulling back her hood, Hinata Uzumaki returned the gaze with what she hoped was a look of calculated disinterest. “I’m expected.” she held up both hands to show that they were empty, then opened the satchel she carried to show a data pad and a collection of data cards. 

“I’m here about Sector 7.” 

The man studied her for a few moments, saying nothing. Then, his beady eyes glittering, he turned and gestured with his head for her to follow. 

Hinata stepped into the doorway, took one final look back toward the hangar, and the world of the _Konoha_ she’d always known. 

Then she stepped into the darkness, and the door slid shut behind her with a grinding clang. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story has been brewing in my head for quite a while now, and I think I've finally reached a point of preparedness where I'm able to start putting pen to paper and fingers to keys to make it a reality.  
> The planning for this story sort of got away from me as it was happening, to the point that I have a RIDICULOUS amount of background documents and other bits of world-building that I'm hoping to integrate naturally into the story. At the very least, hopefully by the end the whole thing will at least make sense.  
> As you've probably intuited from reading the first chapter, this is HEAVILY AU, and probably the only things that will actually be pulled from Naruto itself will be the characters and some of the relationships (and a few Easter eggs here and there, like the Byakugan RADAR having a blind spot). There will be characters that are slightly different, and some non-canon relationships... we'll just have to see, how they serve the story.  
> Last but not least, I plan to keep to a proper release schedule for this story, of releasing a new chapter every Sunday evening.  
> Welcome to the world of Sector 7, I hope you enjoy your stay.


	2. Conspiracies and Lies

“Good morning, Boruto. It is 0600 hrs ship’s time. Your schedule for today is…”

Boruto’s eyes cracked open at the sound of his datapad, broadcasting his usual wake-up call. The bright female voice had been studiously engineered to be as pleasant-sounding as possible, and without knowing who was talking, even someone conditioned to hearing it might mistake it for a human; but Boruto was not a morning person, and to him, those calm and soothing tones meant nothing but pain.

Groaning, Boruto slowly sat up in bed, working a kink out of his back as he mentally prepared himself to begin the day. He’d been happy with his assignment to the Engineering Cell after he graduated, and already he had plans to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps and become Prelate of Engineering, but the early hours were not for him. Not for the first time, he half-considered requesting a trade transfer to something that worked a bit closer to the evening end of the spectrum.

Swinging his legs over the side of his bed, he stood up and walked over to his wardrobe locker to get dressed. His cabin’s windowscreen was mostly dark, with only the faintest pink hint of sunlight yet to be seen; he’d set his room as such, because if he had to wake up early, at the very least he wouldn’t have to deal with the brightness of the simulated sun slamming into his tired eyes. The default setting for cabins aboard the ship had a much earlier sunrise, and he’d made the decision very early on that rising in relative darkness was at least a bit more tolerable.

Zipping up his coveralls, Boruto stepped out into the hallway and turned right, headed for the bathroom that he shared with Hiwamari. To his left, the hallway led into the Uzumaki family suite’s main living area, across which a mirrored hallway contained his parents’ master cabin. Fortunately he had the bathroom to himself; on weekdays, Hiwamari rose even earlier than he did, to head to the Academy. She was a lot more studious than he had been during his time there.

After he’d finished his morning routine, Boruto stepped into the living area and headed for the kitchenette at the front of the suite. He’d reached into one of the cupboards, pulled out two breakfast bars, and sat down to unwrap the first before he realized that something was wrong: his father was nowhere to be seen.

Naruto’s workday started a bit later than Boruto’s most days, being in the Enforcement Cell, but even so, Naruto was almost always awake just as early as Boruto to cook breakfast for Hinata before she left for work. To see no sign of him at all was very unusual.

Chewing thoughtfully on his first breakfast bar, Boruto noticed the kitchen console was flashing a small blue light.

_A message- must be from Dad._

Walking over to the kitchen’s small fridge, Boruto tapped the notification icon on the touch screen built into its front surface. Naruto’s voice began filling the small space.

“Boruto, I had to leave early this morning to sort out a few things. Sorry if I worried you, I’ll see you this afternoon after your shift. Love you.”

Boruto frowned slightly. It was nice that his father had taken the time to leave a message for him, but the entire situation still felt a bit off. Naruto’s work almost never spilled into the early morning hours, unless he had been called in. And when that happened, something was almost certainly very wrong.

But even beyond that, something in the tone of his father’s voice made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, ever so slightly.

Shaking his head, Boruto forced it out of his mind. 

_Dad knows what he’s doing, if it were really serious he’d have left more of a message. I’m sure I’ll find out what’s happening when he gets home._

Rising from the small table to head to the Engineering Bay, Boruto picked up his untouched breakfast bar and returned it to the cupboard.

Suddenly, he didn’t have much of an appetite.

* * *

“Good morning, Captain Uchiha!”

Sasuke looked up from his desk to see Rock Lee standing in the doorway, his trademark wide grin shining on his face. 

“Good morning Petty Officer Lee, how are you?”

“Excellent, sir! I just wanted to let you know that Admiral Hatake has arrived and is headed for his office; I know how you feel abou-”

“Say no more.” Sasuke nodded and swiftly got to his feet, already closing the distance between his desk and the door to his office. “Thank you for letting me know.”

“No problem Sir! Enjoy your day.”

Lee saluted exuberantly and turned away, heading back to his workstation on the bridge.

Sasuke left his office and turned, just in time to catch Kakashi standing in front of his office door as it slid open.

“Admiral Hatake!”

Kakashi started, looked at Sasuke out of the corner of his eye, and gave a defeated sigh. Sasuke couldn’t help but smirk slightly at the sight; the Commanding Officer was a chronically late individual, and even when he did arrive, he tended to disappear as a means of avoiding morning duties until later on. Hence, why Sasuke tried so hard to get a hold of him before he found the sanctuary of his office.

_Thank you once again, Rock Lee. Strange fellow, but he’s been excellent at not letting the Admiral slip by me._

Walking toward his superior, Sasuke raised his hand in salute. “Good morning Sir, how is everything? I hope you’re well.”

Kakashi turned to face his second-in-command, awkwardly scratching the back of his head as he did so. “Yes, good morning Captain Uchiha- I had a good morning, I hope you did as well. I actually was just about to-”

“Of course sir, your time is valuable.” Sasuke steamrolled over whatever excuse Kakashi had been about to give. “So I think it’s best that we take on the morning checks together, to finish them as quickly as possible.”

At the very mention of “morning checks”, Sasuke could see the older man’s eyes glaze over, and once again had to suppress a small smirk. He didn’t have any way out of this one.

“Admiral Hatake!”

The voice rang through the bridge, and Sasuke’s train of thought- already racing toward the morning’s Sector checks- came to a screeching halt. He closed his eyes.

_Well, I spoke too soon._

Kakashi looked over his shoulder, and his eyes brightened. “Petty Officer Uzumaki! What can I do for you?”

Sasuke turned around, ready to shoot his friend with an icy stare; whatever he’d come up to say, chances are it would give Kakashi plenty of ammunition to ignore his duties for the next little while. 

_I was so close!_

But, as Naruto drew closer, Sasuke’s pang of irritation evaporated almost immediately. One look at Naruto’s face was all it took. His usual goofy smile was nowhere to be seen, and his eyes had a significantly more guarded look than usual.

_Something’s wrong._

Naruto stopped in front of the two of them and gave a half-hearted salute. “Admiral Hatake, there’s something we need to speak about- in private, if you wouldn’t mind.”

Kakashi blinked, and Sasuke saw his eyebrows raise incrementally as the tone of the exchange found him. “Um, of course… come into my office, please.” Turning his head, Kakashi nodded to Sasuke, who followed the pair through the doorway. The silver titanite doors slid shut with a quiet whirring sound.

Sitting down at his desk, Kakashi motioned for Naruto to take a seat in the chair opposite him. Sasuke remained standing, his hands moving behind him to clasp at parade’s ease without even thinking.

“Naruto, what is it?”

Naruto looked down at the floor for just a moment, as though he were gathering his thoughts, then took a deep breath before straightening up. 

“Kakashi, Hinata is missing.”

The silence hung in the room for several seconds, and both Kakashi and Sasuke processed his words. Whatever Naruto had come to say, that most certainly had not been what Sasuke was expecting.

Kakashi blinked, and his brows knit together in confusion. “I’m not certain I understand. You told me at the service last night that she was spending the evening with her sister; did she not come back afterward?”

“That’s the thing!” Naruto’s voice was rough, and agitated. “I spoke to Hanabi already this morning, she hasn’t seen Hinata for days. So wherever she was last night, she lied to me about it, and now I haven’t seen her for nearly twelve hours.”

Sasuke inhaled sharply through his nose. He didn’t know Hinata nearly as well as Naruto, but he did know that the two of them were always _totally_ transparent with each other. If she was lying to him about her whereabouts, it was definitely a cause for concern.

Without another word, Kakashi tapped a few buttons on his desk console, and the windowscreen behind him shimmered as it changed from simulated outdoors to a monitor for his workstation. “Alright, Naruto, I see why you’re concerned. Let’s ping her DOT.”

Naruto’s shoulders seemed to deflate a bit, and Sasuke heard a barely perceptible sigh of relief. Clearly, he’d been worried about someone bringing up the implications of what Hinata had been doing, but as far as Sasuke was concerned, that could wait until they’d found her.

As Kakashi typed away on his console, the screen behind him displayed a map of the Konoha. Tens of thousands of small lights were scattered all over it, forming a dense network of hazy constellations across the outlines that marked the thousands of corridors and chambers that composed the ship. Each light was a DOT, a microscopic implant that every resident of the ship was given just after birth, that tracked their location, provided vital sign readouts, and several other basic quality of life functions.

Tapping the keys on the screen of the workstation, Kakashi accessed resident search, and typed “Hinata Uzumaki”. Selecting her profile when it appeared, he tapped an icon labelled “Location ping”.

For a brief second, nothing happened. Then, a message flashed on the screen, bright red letters cutting through the blue background.

_No Result_

Kakashi’s eyes widened. Sasuke immediately braced himself.

“What the hell does that mean?! The system can’t find her!” Naruto was on his feet, one hand on the back of his chair while the other one jabbed at the screen and its horrifying message. That isn’t possible!”

“No, it isn’t.” Kakashi quickly stood and placed a hand on Naruto’s shoulder. “Naruto, I need you to calm-”

“Calm down? You want me to calm down? My wife is missing!!”

“I know!” Kakashi roared abruptly. The sudden surge of energy shocked Naruto into sitting back down with a heavy thud, and even Sasuke took an involuntary half-step back. Kakashi was quite probably the most laid-person he’d ever encountered, and he very rarely raised his voice.

Kakashi sat back down at his desk. “Forgive me, I shouldn’t have yelled.” Kakashi looked at Sasuke. “Captain Uchiha, would you go to the bridge for a moment and get Petty Officer Uzumaki some water?”

Normally, Sasuke would have objected to the ship’s Chief Consul being sent on such a minor errand, but this was hardly a usual situation. Nodding briefly, Sasuke stepped through the door. As he left, he looked back over his shoulder to see Naruto put his head in his hands, and Kakashi stand up once again to walk around the desk and place a hand on his shoulder.

The bridge contained a small kitchenette, just off the main control room, and Sasuke quickly found three steelite mugs that he filled from the water dispensing faucet built into the kitchen unit. It took him less than one minute to return with the water, but he stood outside the door for a few minutes further to allow Kakashi to comfort Naruto. As he did, he felt a slight pang of guilt.

_Shouldn’t I be the one trying to comfort him? He didn’t come to me when he had a problem, he came to Kakashi._

_Would I even be able to comfort him properly if he had? Would he even expect me to?_

Sasuke shook his head. It was neither here nor there. They had a much bigger problem to solve. In the history of the Konoha, the entirety of its 82-year mission, no one had ever gone missing.

Sasuke knocked on the door, then pressed his hand to the release when he heard Kakashi’s affirmation from within.

Naruto’s eyes were red and puffy, but he seemed to have visibly calmed down. Sasuke placed two of the mugs down on the desk, then handed the third directly to his friend. Naruto took the cold metal cup and smiled ruefully at him.

“Sorry I’m such a mess.”

Sasuke shook his head quickly.

“Don’t apologize, Naruto. We’re going to find her.”

Naruto swallowed thickly, then nodded. Sasuke placed his hand on his shoulder, then pulled one of the other chairs against the office wall over and sat down next to him.

“Okay.” Kakashi folded his hands in front of him. “We have to go about this very carefully. We need to find Hinata as soon as we can, but if we make it public that a member of the crew has disappeared, it will cause panic. We need to be smart about this.”

Sasuke saw Naruto’s eyes blaze, and quickly grabbed his arm and squeezed. “Naruto, he’s right. We can find her, but inciting a riot isn’t going to do anything productive. The fewer people who know about this, the better.”

The fire in Naruto’s eyes waned slightly, still leaving a dull blue blaze. “Fine. Who knows, then? All of us, Boruto, Hiwamari-”

Kakashi and Sasuke’s eyes met, and Kakashi shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Unfortunately, Naruto’s distracted state didn’t keep him from noticing.

“Oh, _absolutely_ not! I am not hiding this from them! They deserve to know!”

Sasuke grimaced, hating himself for what he was about to do. For the third time in the last twelve hours, he promised himself that he would be a better friend to Naruto, to try to be the best friend he deserved. But he couldn’t do that, just yet.

“Naruto… I know you want to tell them. I understand. But we all agree that the fewer people know about this, the better. And if Boruto knows, how long will this stay a secret? You know how he is. Even Hiwamari, spending all of her time at the Academy, interacting with who knows how many people? Believe me, I hate it just as much as you, but it’s the lesser of two evils.”

Across the desk, Kakashi’s mask hid most of his expression, but his eyes couldn’t completely disguise the hint of relief that he must have been feeling at Sasuke bringing up the point so that he didn’t have to. Sasuke hoped that Kakashi felt as horrible as he did, for what they were doing to their friend.

Naruto turned and looked at him, and the look of stunned pain on his face was almost enough for Sasuke to open his mouth and take back everything he’d said.

Almost.

“You’re serious. You want me to lie to my family, lie to the entire world, tell them some bullshit excuse when she’s Mother knows where?”

Sasuke closed his eyes. “Naruto, I know how it sounds. But it has to be done.”

Naruto’s eyes had begun to kindle again, that brilliant blue fire shining through as his anger mounted. For a brief, ridiculous moment, Sasuke was reminded of Admiral Senju, and the way her eyes had always burned when she was at her most passionate.

Then the fire faded, and Naruto’s lips compressed into a thin line. “Fine. I’ll do it.”

Sasuke’s muscles immediately relaxed. Who knew how far back he’d set their friendship in doing so, but he’d managed to diffuse the situation. Now all they needed was a way to move forward.

Kakashi nodded at the exchange. “I agree. It’s not pretty, not by a long shot, but I believe it’s necessary.” The sliver-haired man stood from behind his desk. “This is how we’ll proceed: Sasuke,I want you to investigate Hinata’s disappearance, personally. The full resources of the Konoha are at your disposal. If you feel that you must inform another crew member of the situation, I trust in your discretion, but only do so if it’s completely necessary. You’re dismissed.”

Sasuke nodded briefly, stood from his chair, and saluted. As he turned to the door, he looked back over his shoulder at Kakashi and Naruto. “What will we tell everyone? There will be questions, and soon. Hanabi must already be aware that something’s wrong.”

Kakashi nodded. “I have an idea.”

* * *

Kakashi and Naruto stepped through the doorway into the Konoha’s Science division. The place was bustling with activity, as scientists and technicians to and fro, ferrying pieces of equipment and distractedly poring over data pads. The main lobby of the department was a fairly-sized round room, ringed with doorways on every side leading to different testing facilities and laboratories. Directly across the room from the entrance, a small reception desk was manned by a young, brown-haired ensign, fresh out of the Academy. Behind his seat was a door marked _Prelate’s Office._

Kakashi strode across the room, walking up to the desk. The ensign on duty glanced up from his console, looked back down, then performed the most violent double-take Kakashi had ever seen.

“Sir! I, uh, I was just- how are- if there anything I can-”

Kakashi offered his hand to the young man, cutting off his speech before the pile of thoughts he was trying to voice all at once choked him. “Good morning ensign, we’re here to see Lieutenant Mitarashi. Is she in?”

The receptionist finally took a deep breath, and when he continued to speak, his voice was much more composed, albeit still with a slight hint of awe.

“Hai, Sir, she’s in her office. I’ll transmit to her that you’re coming-”

Kakashi shook his head, reaching down to gently stop the man’s hand as he reached for the intercom function of his console. “That won’t be required, Ensign, we’ll just make our way in. She’s expecting me.” He gave a conspiratorial wink.

The ensign’s mouth hung open, ever so slightly, as he let his hands drop to his sides. “Umm- I mean, hai, Sir! Go right in.”

Kakashi chuckled as he led Naruto around the desk, then walked toward the office doorway. Pressing the large green button beside the door, he softly murmured “Excitable, isn’t he?”

Naruto nodded briefly, but clearly wasn’t in much of a mood for small talk. “Is Lieutenant Mitarashi actually expecting us?”

Considering the question, Kakashi anxiously scratched the back of his head out of habit. “Technically… no. But I’ve never once seen Anko be unhappy to see me.”

The second he finished his thought, the door slid open. 

“Well, well, who do we have here… come in, Sir.”

Kakashi sighed. 

Here we go again…

The sliding doors closed behind them. The office was a bit smaller than Kakashi’s office on the bridge, but felt much smaller due to being packed with clutter. The walls were lined with shelves, containing numerous data cards, small, delicate-looking pieces of machinery, and even a few actual books. There were two stiff-backed chairs sitting in front of the large desk that took up most of the center space of the office. On the back wall, a windowscreen showing a thunderstorm would occasionally flash lightning, and the rushing sound of pouring rain could just barely be heard in the room. A small fridge unit sat on the floor directly behind a large, comfortable-looking high-backed office chair.

And sitting in said chair, her violet hair pulled up in its usual short ponytail on top of her head, was Anko Mitarashi. Seeing Naruto, she smiled at him around the lollipop sticking out of her mouth before turning her attention back to Kakashi. 

“Good morning, handsome- you know, when I told you to come around anytime, the invitation was more intended as a one-on-one type of visit…”

Kakashi forced himself not to react, but to his horror, he felt his cheeks heating up ever so slightly. He prayed to any god that would listen that his mask was hiding the tint of his skin.

Judging by the look on Anko’s face, it was not.

Looking back at Naruto, Anko’s smile softened, the predatory look leaving her eyes as she settled into a more natural demeanor. “Uzumaki, it’s good to see you. Don’t mind my bothering the Admiral, we like to have fun like that.” Gesturing to the chairs placed in front of her desk, Anko leaned back in her own seat, crossing her hands behind her head. “What brings you down to our weird little corner of the world?”

Kakashi leaned forward. “Anko.” He spoke in what he hoped was a completely serious tone. “We need your help with something very sensitive.”

Anko looked at him, and he was gratified to see the playful look on her face disappear.

“What’s happened?”

Kakashi quickly explained the situation. Upon hearing the news, Anko looked at Naruto, who was gazing disinterestedly around at the various charts, devices, and plants scattered around the room on wall shelves. Her gaze softened once again, and for a moment Kakashi caught true pity in her eyes. “I’m sorry to hear about all of this. Whatever I can do to help, I will.”

Naruto looked at her, and there was a brief glimpse of wetness in his eyes before he hastily turned to continue studying the office’s decor.

Anko turned back to Kakashi, and she was all business again. “That said, what exactly am I doing to help? I’m not exactly the private-eye type, you’d be better off heading to the Investigative Cell and seeing if they’ve decided to come in to work today.”

Kakashi pointedly ignored the second half of her statement, and leaned forward.

“I need an Ensign. One that you trust implicitly.” He paused, tried to think of a way to phrase his next request delicately, and failed. “And one who could easily disappear for an extended period of time.”

Naruto turned to look at him, his face a mask of confusion. Anko’s expression was much more subdued, but it was clear she was taken aback by the clarifying statement as well.

“Well… That would probably have to be Udon- Ise Udon, you would have seen him at the reception desk on the way in. Definitely a bit on the green side, but everything he’s done since he’s come here has been totally by the book, the picture of a model hire.”

Kakashi nodded. “Call him in.”

* * *

For one of very few times in his life, Sasuke was flummoxed. Investigation wasn’t exactly his strong suit; he’d done a very brief shadowing period in the Investigative Cell while studying at the Academy, but it hadn’t resonated with him at the time, and the rest of his career had essentially been crafted specifically to prepare him for his current role on the command team, graduating from the Academy, immediately becoming the Prelate of Helm, then Consul of Operations, then moved into his current role when Kakashi assumed command of the Konoha. Even drawing on what vague knowledge of inspection he did have was little help; his training taught him that the first line of thought was to interview people close to the subject, which was out of the question here.

_Unless…_

Sasuke reached into the pocket of his uniform and pulled out his datapad, then called up his list of contacts.

_I’ll have to talk my way through this very carefully._

The datapad chimed a few times, indicating that connection had been made. Ino Yamanaka’s face appeared on-screen. Looking at the background of the video feed, Sasuke could see the walls of her cabin’s living area- it was nearly 1100 hrs ship’s time, and she was still home. Suppressing his irritation at the Investigative Cell’s schedule, he smiled. “Good morning, Ino.”

Ino’s face was a picture of slightly confused surprise. Clearly, she hadn’t been expecting a call from him, which was understandable; she and Sakura were extremely close, and had been for many years, but she and Sasuke were much less friends than they were acquaintances of circumstance.

“Good morning Sasuke, what’s up? Is this a personal call, or business?”

“Strictly personal.. I was just wondering if you’d seen Hinata lately? What has she been up to?”

Onscreen, Ino’s expression of confusion deepened. “Hinata? I haven’t seen her in weeks, she’s been working nearly non-stop… we’ve made plans at least three times recently that I can think of that she’s cancelled because she’s been working late at Records. Why?”

Sasuke bit the inside of his lip, trying to think of some kind of reason he could give.

 _I have a feeling I’m going to be really good at lying by the end of this._ It wasn’t a reassuring thought.

“Oh, no reason- Sakura has been wanting to try to have dinner with her and Naruto, but I haven’t been able to get in touch with either of them today, so I figured I’d see if you knew anything.”

Even from the small, blue-tinted image of Ino on his datapad, it was clear that the blonde woman wasn’t terribly convinced by his explanation. Thankfully, she didn’t press further.

“Alright, well, sorry I couldn’t help- tell Sakura I’ll be coming by this evening, okay?”

“Sounds good.” Sasuke’s brain had already moved on from the conversation as he ended the connection. 

_So she’s been working, more than usual, from the sounds of it. I suppose that’s as good a place to start as any._

Stowing his datapad back in his pocket, Sasuke left the bridge and started making his way toward the Records Cell.

* * *

“So, Ensign Udon- you fully understand what I’ve told you?”

The young man sitting in front of Anko’s desk shifted in his seat. 

“Hai, sir.. At least, I believe so…”

Kakashi nodded. “Very good. Explain the plan to me.”

Udon gave a start, but then steeled himself and pushed his glasses up his nose.

“Over the next 14 days, I will be stationed inside one of the test bunkers in Experimental Bay 01. I will remain there for the entirety of the 14 days. I will be provided with all the sustenance I require, as well as a single carrying crate of personal items, but I will have no contact with the rest of the ship. Lieutenant Hinata Uzumaki will be monitoring my progress from outside the bunker for the entire 14 days, in order to gain fresh insights into isolation therapy and other-”

“Yes, yes.” Anko waved her hand impatiently. “Kaka- er, Sir, he’s got the gist of it.”

Kakashi nodded again. “Very well- Udon, the study will begin in 90 minutes. Take the time to return to your quarters, gather your personal effects, and then return here and report directly to Lieutenant Mitarashi. She will escort you to the test site.”

Udon stood up quickly, saluted, then swiftly exited the room.

Once the door slid closed, Naruto broke the silence. “I’ll admit, Kakashi… it’s a good plan.”

The corners of Kakashi’s eyes crinkled as he smiled. “Now, as far as the rest of the ship is concerned, Hinata is in isolation with Ensign Udon, recording the results of his test. We have a completely believable alibi for the next 14 days, which is plenty of time for Sasuke to find her.”

Naruto frowned, sinking back into his chair. “I hope that will be enough. If she’s still gone by then…”

To Kakashi’s surprise, before he could say anything to comfort the blonde man, Anko beat him there.

“She’ll be back before then, Naruto. He’ll find her.”

* * *

Elsewhere in the ship, Sasuke entered the Records department. The room was huge and L-shaped, large enough to fit the entire bridge, and filled with computer terminals and desks. Along the walls, lines of large shelves stretched, holding thousands of physical books, containing whatever information the Konoha had taken off with from before data cards became the norm for data storage. A small metal staircase halfway along the right-hand wall led up to a thin metal catwalk, to provide access to the higher reaches of the shelves.

In stark contrast to the majority of the naval departments on board at this time of day, the room was largely deserted; an ensign was sitting at one of the computer terminals nearest the entrance, and a petty officer was standing on the catwalk to Sasuke’s left, carefully organizing the books on the shelf. Sasuke stepped through the door, and the ensign took notice, standing up from her terminal and rushing over to him.

“Good afternoon, Sir! How can I help you?” the ensign saluted crisply.

Sasuke returned the salute. “Hello, ensign. I’m hoping you can help me out with a bit of clerical work; I’m doing an audit of Lieutenant Uzumaki’s workflow, I’ll need you to give me access to all of the documents that she’s accessed in the last 7 days.”

The ensign blinked, quickly disguised the look of bewilderment that flashed across her face, then nodded. “Hai, sir- if you’d like to take a terminal, I’ll grant your ship’s profile access to all of those records.”

“Thank you.” As the ensign scurried back to her terminal, Sasuke moved to a workstation situated closer to the rear corner of the room, and signed in to the ship’s online workspace. Accessing the Konoha’s data repository, a notification chimed at the top of his screen:

_Data transfer received. Access updated._

Tapping on the notification, Sasuke couldn’t help but stare as his screen began populating with a mountain of files and book references. 

_Data transfer complete. 1126 items accessed._

Sasuke’s jaw dropped. This was completely absurd; Hinata must have hardly been sleeping for the past week to access all of these files. This sort of workload was far beyond normal.

Which meant that his hunch had probably been correct. Something, somewhere in this mass of data must have something to do with what had happened to her.

_Well… Guess I’d better get started…_

* * *

“Sturgeon caviar, my love?”

Asuma smiled as Kurenai reached forward, a small bundle of black roe balanced delicately on the tip of the spoon she offered. He removed his tobacco vaporizer from his mouth, then leaned forward and slurped the eggs down, relishing the explosion of flavours.

“We really should find time to have breakfast like this more often.”

Asuma and Kurenai were seated at an ornate, white dining table. All around them, a variety of extotic plants formed a complex tapestry of vivid greens on the ground around them, small spurts of other colours dotted the plant life every so often. The growing beds containing the plants were expertly hidden beneath rows of smooth, round stones, and the titanium pathways that cut through the green mass were covered with rich red earth that Kurenai had procured from Akimichi Agriculture’s massive growth fields. The room itself was fairly small, but the entire dome-shaped ceiling had been adorned with windowscreens, creating a picture-perfect outdoor garden with a beautiful dining patio at its center.

“You know,” Kurenai began, slicing a thin wedge of aged stilton cheese. “The Admiral visited the Science Cell this morning, and he took Naruto Uzumaki with him. They were shut up in Mitarashi’s office for about an hour, from what my friend told me… I wonder what was going on in there?”

Asuma’s eyes gleamed. “Certainly doesn’t sound like he was doing his morning rounds- but not just out of laziness, this time.” The dark-haired man theatrically tapped his finger against his bearded chin. “What were you up to down there, Kakashi?”

Kurenai studied him intently, and Asuma couldn’t help but be slightly transfixed by the brilliant crimson shade of her eyes; so unique, so striking. The only thing he loved about his wife more than her eyes was her brilliant mind.

“You really despise him, don’t you?”

The spell broke, and Asuma shook himself slightly. “Kakashi? I have nothing against him at all, funnily enough. Hell, in another life, we probably would have been friends.” His characteristic smirk faded. “Believe me, I get no pleasure out of all the smoke and mirrors, and I’m certainly not doing any of this because of how I feel about him as a person. He’s just a man in over his head, in command of a ship that doesn’t need him.”

Asuma took a long drag on his vaporiser. “We were so close, with Tsunade- hell, she was practically doing the work for us. One more drunken outburst, one more gambling scandal, and it would have been over. Kakashi… he’s much cleaner, on the outside, anyway. But everyone has their secrets, everyone has a vice.” Asuma reached out to the table and skewered a thick sausage with his knife. “And _everyone_ makes mistakes. Kakashi will make his, and we’ll be there to swoop in and claim what is ours.”

Kurenai smiled, and raised her glass. The pale orange wine inside shimmered in the artificial sunlight. “I’ll drink to that.”


	3. A Ghost in the Machine

“Good morning, sir. Shall we commence with morning rounds?”

Slowly working a kink out of his neck and stifling a yawn, Kakashi nodded. He hadn’t been able to sleep much the night before, laying awake as the implications of his plan to lie to his crew about Hinata had swirled through his head. When sleep had finally found him, even that had offered little reprieve, and he had awoken several times throughout the night from barely-remembered dreams of shadowy figures and muttered accusations.

The bridge was its usual controlled babble of activity, as the day shift crew prepared themselves for the upcoming day’s rigors. Commander Inoichi Yamanaka stood in the doorway of Kakashi’s office, replacing Sasuke in his usual duties as Third Consul of the ship.

“I’m still a little amazed that you convinced Captain Uchiha to take some time off, sir.” The corner of Inoichi’s mouth turned up into a slight smile. The Chief Consul’s superhuman work ethic was something of a legend among many of the crew members, and on many occasions the rest of the command team had needed to spend several days convincing him that his duties would be adequately addressed long enough for him to take a break.

Kakashi nodded, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he returned Inoichi’s smile. “I basically gave him no choice in the matter… he’s been working far too hard lately. His drive to be completely prepared for approach to Planet III is admirable, but all of his drills won’t do us much good if he’s completely burnt himself out when we arrive.” The truth of Sasuke’s absence- that he had spent the past few days studiously investigating Hinata’s disappearance- had remained a secret, even from Kakashi’s trusted commanders. The deception still twisted in his gut, but so far he’d managed to calm it with reassurances to himself that they were doing the right thing.

_And I wonder why I’m not sleeping._

Rising from his desk, Kakashi followed Inoichi out of his office. The older man withdrew his datapad from the pocket of his uniform, tapped the screen a few times, and began studying the screen. 

“Reports from the nightshift are showing no Class 1 or Class 2 reports. Class 3 report from the Engineering Cell: two of our landers are showing minor electrical faults. Lieutenant Minato Uzumaki has been advised, repair operations will commence by 1300hrs ship’s time today, once preliminary investigation into the cause of the faults is complete.”

The two men began walking out of the bridge, heading for the lift that connected it down to Naval Facilities. As they walked, Inoichi continued to deliver the previous night’s low-priority reports. Once they were on the lift and heading down to Sector 1, Kakashi briefly pulled out his own datapad and consulted it. His most recent communication from Sasuke had been the previous evening, and there had been little of note contained in it.

Just as he was about to put the datapad away, Kakashi noticed a single notification blinking in his communication channel. Tapping on it, the notification expanded to fill the screen.

_One missed communication: Lieutenant Mitarashi, Anko._

Kakashi closed his eyes and sighed. Whatever she had to say, no doubt it could wait until rounds were complete. Stowing his datapad back into his tunic pocket, Kakashi found himself contemplating the violet-haired woman. She’d made no secret of her pursuit of him, for many years now, and none of the efforts he’d made to rebuke her advances seemed to faze her. 

He’d never allowed himself to enter into a committed relationship. Even in his youth, when women approached him, his guarded attitude had sounded the proverbial death-knell for any hope of kindling a lasting connection. Over time, as he rejected more and more women’s (and men’s) advances, they became increasingly rare, until one day they’d stopped altogether. 

After what had happened to his father, he’d sworn that he wouldn’t follow in his footsteps. And thus, he’d carefully maintained his distance from anyone who showed even a passing romantic interest in him.

Despite all of his resolve, though, Anko was hard to continue to deny. She was so unlike any of the other women who had chased after him; beneath her devil-may-care attitude and joking exterior, she had a steel to her that he found fascinating in spite of himself. Maybe one of these days, he’d let her catch him. 

“Sir?”

Shaking himself back to reality, Kakshi looked at Inoichi sheepishly. “Apologies, Inoichi… my mind was somewhere else.”

Inoichi looked at him thoughtfully for several moments, and Kakashi felt himself shrinking slightly under that scrutinizing gaze. Inoichi was incredibly perceptive of other people’s thoughts and emotions, and sometimes it made the silver-haired man slightly uncomfortable that he would never truly know just how much Inoichi intuited just by looking at him.

_That man missed his calling. Could have been a phenomenal psychologist._

Then Inoichi smiled, and Kakashi relaxed, feeling the weight on his chest lift away. “Of course, I understand. Anyway, the Training Cell is first on your rotation this morning. Shall we?”

* * *

Sasuke had to resist the urge to let his head drop to the surface of the workstation; only his intense personal pride (Naruto would have called it “stubbornness”, and would he have been wrong?) allowed him to maintain his posture in his seat as he added another datacard to the growing stack on his left side.

It had been three days since Naruto had barged into the bridge that morning, and Sasuke had spent nearly ten hours each day in the records cell, poring over every file, every image, every piece of data that Hinata had accessed in the week prior. It was a horribly mind-numbing process, and so far it had borne very little fruit. 

Most of the files Hinata had been viewing contained information about the Konoha itself; schematics, ship’s records, part specifications, and other dry technical documents. Scattered throughout this were records chronicling recent studies of Planet III, but the fact that so few of these records showed up in Hinata’s work history made Sasuke suspect that she’d only been accessing these when approached by other crew members, as a way of covering up her actual work.

_So she’s been studying the ship itself, incredibly extensively. Why would she be doing that?_

Sasuke sighed and rubbed his temples. All of this staring at screens couldn’t possibly be good for his eyes, but every second he spent not looking for Hinata felt like wasted time. 

And, despite himself, he was beginning to share some of Naruto’s reservations. The cover story that Kakashi had crafted gave them a 14-day window before the crew would be informed that Hinata was not, in fact, recording the results of an isolation study. This had felt like a comfortable window of time at first, but nearly three days later Sasuke had no results to show. Even worse, he didn’t even know if he was looking in the right place; what if none of this had anything to do with Hinata’s disappearance? What if she had really just been accessing all of this data in her capacity as Prelate of Records?

_Well, at the very least, that doesn’t seem likely._ Under pretense of his “workload audit”, Sasuke had already consulted the Engineering, Helm, and Exploration Cells about the documents that had been accessed, and all had informed him that they’d made no requests for such information. If those departments hadn’t requested that Hinata pull the files, it seemed very unlikely that she’d been pursuing them for work.

_So why? What am I missing?_

Despite himself, Sasuke found his mind wandering as he skimmed the next document. His thoughts trailed away from the investigation at hand, and he found himself thinking about his wife.

His stomach twisted into knots of guilt at the thought of Sakura. He knew that he’d never been the exemplary model of what a husband should be, spending so much time away from his family, voluntarily working during time he should have been taking off for her. But these past few days had been even worse; he hardly had time to kiss her goodbye in the morning before he was rushing to the Records Cell, leaving as early as possible so fewer people wondered why he was spending so much time there. He arrived home late, exhausted, and did his best to spend time with her in the evenings, but he found himself dropping off to sleep earlier than ever. Then he woke up, and did it all again.

Not for the first time, Sasuke contemplated what sort of effects this investigation would have on his relationships with the people he cared about: first Naruto, then Sakura.

Who else? Who would be the next person he was forced to lie to, to ignore?

Sasuke forced the thought out of his mind. Today, he swore, he’d leave the Records Cell early and have a proper evening with his family.

Leaning back in his seat, he loaded the next file and started to scan.

* * *

“Sector 4: Production and Agriculture.” The cool robotic voice announced as the massive titanite doors slid open. Kakashi and Inoichi stepped through the door into the chamber beyond, noting the surge of heat as they entered the carefully climate-controlled section of the ship. The space was laid out similarly to the lobby of the Science Cell, but it only contained two large doorways, on opposite sides of the room: one labelled Production, the other Agriculture.

Walking through the entrance to the agriculture department, Kakashi found himself looking around the space with a sort of awe, in spite of himself. No matter how many times he came here, no matter how many times he saw the artificial farmland that the Akimichi Clan managed, he always managed to be slightly amazed at the sight.

The agriculture chamber was massive, one of the largest on the ship. The majority of the space was taken up by planter beds containing millions of plants, arranged in neat rows, stretching for miles across the ground. Agriculture staff busily hurried back and forth through the rows, checking on crops or adjusting the settings of the beds. The few spaces that weren’t occupied by growing produce were small chambers, closed off from the rest of the room, that almost formed small “buildings” among the simulated farmland.

But the ceiling was the most impressive thing about the space. It was made entirely of windowscreens, all tuned to show a brilliant blue sky. Stepping through the door of the room, you were suddenly transported from the insides of a spacecraft to a huge, outdoor farm. The transition was striking.

It wasn’t the only part of the ship that made use of this sort of ceiling- the Community section of the ship had a similar arrangement, to provide a more pleasant living experience to the ship’s citizens- but the simulated sky never ceased to have a huge impact on Kakashi, whenever he saw it. Looking at images of Earth, seeing the sky there was one thing; to be here and walking beneath one was another entirely.

“Good afternoon, Admiral!”

Kakashi turned to the voice, and saw Choji Akimichi approaching, holding up a hand in greeting. Kakashi returned the gesture as the stout man came to a halt before them, panting ever so slightly. A slight sheen of sweat stood out on his forehead, and the arm that he hadn’t waved with was straining against the weight of a massive bag of feed, muscles quivering. Setting the bag down, he pulled out a cloth and wiped his face, before returning the small scrap of fabric to his pocket. “What can I do for you?”

“Hello Choji, just checking in on how things are here. I understand the Science department has been sending you preliminary readings from Planet III, to aid in developing your planetside agriculture plan?”

Choji nodded. “They sure have- I won’t lie, I’ve appreciated everything they’ve sent us, but some of the jargon they use is complete nonsense to most of us here. I think those guys tend to forget that not all of us have the background they do.”

Kakashi smiled behind his mask, as he was reminded of another reason he enjoyed coming down here so much. The Agriculture department was a non-naval facility, so it technically didn’t fall under his chain of command. Obviously, being the Admiral of the ship meant that essentially everything that happened on-board was his concern, but the fact that Choji and his staff weren’t naval crew made for a refreshing change of conversation. He was always respectful, but never to the nearly suffocating extent that many of his younger crew members were.

“I’ll inform Lieutenant Mitarashi that the language being used in the reports is confusing- she should be able to have some of the staff adjust the readings to be a bit more friendly to the layman.”

Choji gave him a thumbs-up. “That would be excellent. Now, would you like to come and see what we’re working on? We’ve got several varieties of grain seeds that have been showing promising signs of growth in Planet II environment conditions.”

Kakashi nodded. “Lead the way.”

* * *

Sector 5, the Community Sector of the _Konoha_ , was an enormous open chamber, several miles across. Like the Agriculture department, it had a ceiling of windowscreens simulating the sky, giving the entire area a pleasant outdoor look. The space was laid out to simulate the downtown of a city on Earth, with several “streets” lined with stores, small businesses, and other amenities crossing one another. A large section in the center of the chamber was dedicated to a large park, growing on a single large planter bed, with paths of carefully arranged stones and benches for pedestrians to relax on. The very center of the park simulated a large pond, with a round gap in the planter bed that had been lined with simulated earth and filled with water.

From one of the small eateries surrounding the park, a clear voice rang out.

“Sakura! Hi!”

Walking up to the table, Sakura smiled at her friends. “Hi, everyone- sorry I’m late! I had to assist Karin with a minor procedure before I could leave.”

Temari waved a hand dismissively. “Don’t apologize, just grab a seat and have a drink!”

Sakura pulled out the fourth chair and settled down. The small patio space in front of the restaurant had five tables arranged in it, and the other four were empty; the supper crowd was still about an hour off. Picking up the drink menu, Sakura said hello to Tenten and Ino as well before studying the small datapad for a few minutes.

“So, how is everyone?” Temari leaned back in her seat. The woman’s sandy blonde hair was pulled into four very short pigtails, two at the top of her head and two at the base of her neck. An unconventional hairstyle, but then, Temari was far from a conventional kind of person. “Ino? How are things in the Private Eye Brigade?”

Ino rolled her ice-blue eyes, her platinum blonde hair tumbling across her shoulders as she shook her head. “You know as well as I do, Temari, we haven’t had a call in weeks. It’s got to the point where I can barely get angry at people for claiming that we’re useless, because I don’t remember the last time I’ve done anything at work besides rearrange the filing system. Who would have thought, when you live in a closed environment aboard a highly-advanced spacecraft, that people aren’t terribly inclined to commit crimes?”

As Temari roared with laughter, Sakura placed the datapad menu back on the table and pressed a button at the edge of the tabletop. The datapad flashed, indicating it was ready to order, and she tapped her drink choice. A chime from the pad confirmed that her order was received, and the datapad’s screen dimmed once again.

“What about you, Tenten? Neji still working you guys to the bone up there?”

Tenten smiled and playfully smacked Temari on the arm. “He’s not that bad, he’s just very dedicated to his job. And can you blame him? Look at all of the Prelates who ran the helm before him: Sasuke, Kakashi, Tsunade. There’s a huge amount of expectation on him up there.”

Ino shuddered. “I take back my complaints about not having anything to do; I’d much rather be bored out of my mind, than having to deal with scrutiny from command on whether I’m fit to command the ship someday.”

Sakura smiled at Tenten. “He’ll be an excellent Chief Consul someday, I’m sure of it. Sasuke talks about how happy he is with him all the time.”

Tenten beamed. Ino turned to Temari. “What about you, loudmouth? How is our esteemed Consul of Information?”

Temari groaned theatrically. “Oh _Mother_ , I have to hear him complain constantly about how much work it is. ‘What a drag’ this, ‘What a drag’ that… he’s lucky he’s so good in bed, or I’d be trading him in for another model.

Tenten choked on her drink, sputtering and coughing as she tried to bring herself back under control. Pounding her brunette friend on the back, Temari continued.

“All jokes aside, I think he’s still a little stunned he was promoted at all… he thought he was doing so well at hiding how brilliant he was, coasting around in the Records department performing his duties perfectly passably.”

Sakura shook her dead. “He might be the single smartest person on the entire ship, there was no way he wasn’t going to be headed for the command team at some point. Still, to have it happen this early was really awesome for him!”

Temari shrugged. “I mean, literally anyone on the entire Konoha would agree with you, besides him. Ah well, the pay is great, so who am I to complain? And now Shikadai is working in Records as well, following in his father’s illustrious footsteps… at least he’s not there because it seems like an easy department to stay out of sight in.”

All four women laughed, and Sakura found herself truly relaxing, enjoying being in the company of her friends. It wasn’t often that all of them were able to take time to see each other like this during the day, so she intended to treasure it while it lasted.

Although, saying “All of them” wasn’t totally true...

“It’s a shame that Hinata wasn’t able to come out today. It’s so strange, that she suddenly had to go and sit in the Science department for two whole weeks, with no contact? What a shitty assignment.” Temari reached for her drink and took a long draught. A waiter appeared at the table and placed Sakura’s cocktail on the table, nodding in reply to her word of thanks.

“It really is strange… Especially that she never mentioned it to any of us before she started.” Tenten frowned thoughtfully.

“Sakura, did you know about it beforehand?”

For a moment, Sakura didn’t reply. Something about the Hinata situation had been bothering her from the start, ever since they’d all found about her assignment to the Experimental Cell, especially because Tenten was right: it was very unlike Hinata to not tell any of them about it beforehand. 

Sure, maybe she’d only found out about the assignment that day, and there’d been no time to let any of them know, but that seemed unlikely. 

And then there was Sasuke…

Hoping that none of her emotions were showing on her face, Sakura cast her mind back. Obviously, it could have been a coincidence that Sasuke had become so withdrawn (even more than usual, if you could believe that) on the exact day that Hinata had gone quiet. Who knows, maybe Sasuke was working with the study as well in some capacity, and that was why he was so busy.

But he never talked about what he’d been doing, and over the past few days Sakura had felt more disconnected from him than ever. 

She didn’t assume the worst- she couldn’t, it was impossible. Hinata loved Naruto more than anything, and even though they had their periods of friction, Sakura knew Sasuke loved her too.

But all the same, a tiny corner of her brain was bothered by the whole situation.

Remembering that her friends were expecting a response, Sakura pulled herself back to reality. “Um, no, I had no idea… I didn’t find out until Sasuke told me about it that evening. Very strange.” Little did she know, at that exact moment, Ino was recalling the strange communication she’d received from Sasuke that day, asking if she knew anything about what Hinata had been doing the past few days.

If Sakura and Ino had thought to share their thoughts, who knows how the story would have turned out? Maybe things would have been different.

But they didn’t, and both women simply pushed the thoughts aside before changing the conversation topic.

“How have you been, Sakura?”

The pinkette considered briefly, toying with the idea of revealing her secret to the three women seated around the table with her. Then she smiled. “Actually, I have something really exciting to share with you… but you need to promise to keep it to yourself, alright?”

Temari raised an eyebrow, clearly intrigued by the subterfuge. All three women nodded, and Sakura took a deep breath before continuing.

“Well… Sasuke and I are going to try to have another baby.”

Tenten shrieked, then clapped a hand over her hand, face turning bright crimson as she did so. In the park across the street, a gang of young children turned with a snap to look toward the sound, only returning to their play when Temari waved them away.

“Sakura, that’s so amazing!” Ino’s face was alight, her eyes shining with happiness. “Have you already applied?”

“Mhmm, a few days ago… We’re just waiting to hear on whether or not we’re approved, then both of our DOT controls are being disabled. Sasuke says that he knows someone in Clerical who thinks we have a pretty good chance.”

The three other women all began joyfully piling questions on her. Sakura did her best to answer the rapid-fire barrage, all the while thinking about the possibility of another child. This was something that she’d wanted for quite a while, but the intensity of both her and Sasuke’s workloads had made it tricky to find time to assemble the necessary documentation to submit a childbearing application. With the approach to Planet III approaching, however, Sasuke had agreed that once they were planetside and the initial settlement procedures were complete, he’d be able to take a step back.

So Sakura had begun training Karin Uzumaki to step into the role of acting Prelate, in preparation for her anticipated maternity. 

She was excited, Sarada was excited, and she knew from how Sasuke had looked while they discussed it that he was excited too. It felt like the right time,

And even though she’d never admit it, she harboured a few shameful hopes that a new baby might be able to mend the widening rift between her and Sasuke. Once they had a new son or daughter, one that needed both their love and care, things would be better.

She was ashamed to even think of it in those terms, but she couldn’t help herself. The one tiny fragment of her mind that whispered those thoughts to her wouldn’t be silent.

* * *

Sasuke’s eyes were tired, his bones aching from sitting for so long. It was 1745 hrs ship’s time, and he’d already stayed an hour longer than he’d intended to. He’d just look through one more record, then he was done.

As he sluggishly scanned the lines of text scrolling down the screen, a shuffling behind him announced someone approaching. Looking back, he saw Shikadai Nara, Shikamaru and Temari’s son, come to a halt a few feet from his workstation and give a salute.

“Excuse me, sir, I hope I’m not interrupting.”

_Not sure you could call it interrupting anyway, young man, when I’m not doing anything actually productive._ “That’s fine, ensign. What is it?”

Shikadai’s steely grey eyes were set on Sasuke’s face, and for a moment he was struck by how much the young man resembled his father- same face shape, same long black hair pulled into a neat ponytail at the top of his skull, even the same ever-so-slight slouch that his parade stance couldn’t quite conceal.

“Well, sir, I understand you’re auditing Lieutenant Uzumaki’s work trail from the past week. I wanted to let you know that when you started a few days ago, Ensign Kaminarimon forgot to inform you that Lieutenant Uzumaki signed out several records during that time period, and didn’t sign them back in before being reassigned to the Experimental Cell.”

Sasuke’s eyes widened, as Shikadai’s words lit a small fire of hope in his gut. 

_If she hasn’t returned these yet, that means she still has them, wherever she is._

“Ensign Nara, would you be able to provide me with a list of these records?”

Shikadai nodded quickly. “Hai, sir- I’ll provide you with access to Lieutenant Uzumaki’s sign-out history from the past week.”

Sasuke nodded, feeling his pace quicken in anticipation. For the first time since he’d started investigating, he felt like he’d actually found something. Surely, these files that Hinata had disappeared with would provide some kind of clue to where she’d gone.

Accessing the data shared with him by Shikadai, Sasuke saw a list of eight files. Skimming the titles, he felt the spark of determination fading ever so slightly; from the looks of the titles, these were simply more schematic files for the Konoha. Nothing looked significantly different from what he’d already seen.

But then, just as he was about to tap the first file, something at the bottom of the list caught his eye. Below the list of files Hinata had accessed, Shikadai had also included her keyword history from the past 7 days. At the top of the list, a phrase leaped out at him.

_Sector 7._

Sasuke blinked. _Sector 7? What?_ The Konoha was subdivided into seven sectors, of course; but those sectors were numbered 0 to 6. There was no Sector 7. 

Tapping away from Hinata’s history, Sasuke typed “Sector 7” into the keyword search on his terminal. His heart leaped into his throat when the search completed. 

_Showing 1 of 1 results._

Without a second thought, Sasuke tapped on the file, then downloaded it onto a data card. He wouldn’t break his promise- he would leave now, and go spend time with Sakura and Sarada- but now he finally had something to work with. He’d found something that was definitely out of the ordinary, something that Hinata had viewed only days before she disappeared. 

A record referencing Sector 7… a Sector that didn’t exist. 

_Hinata… What have you found?_


	4. Three Visits

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before we get started, a quick apology for missing the last two Sundays. I've had a lot going on in my personal life as of late, and it's precluded me from having much chance to properly write on this story. Things have calmed down now, and I intend to return to my Sunday release schedule.

“Can I assist you with anything, sir?”

Looking up from the screen of the workstation he’d planted himself at, Sasuke saw with a start that Shikadai had nearly managed to walk close enough to see the data he was viewing, without Sasuke noticing at all.

_I’ve been at this too long… I’m barely noticing the world around me. How long before I start skimming articles, and I miss something important?_

Pushing the thought out of his mind, Sasuke shook his head. “Thank you, ensign… I’m fine for the moment. I’ll come find you at the circulation desk if I need any help.”

“Hai, sir.” Shikadai saluted, then turned and walked back toward the entrance to the Records hall without another word. Sasuke watched him go, reaching up to massage his temples in spite of himself. 

The discovery of Hinata’s mysterious data search, and the document containing the phrase “Sector 7”, had borne frustratingly little fruit. The document itself contained only one use of the actual phrase, buried in a footnote about the _Konoha’s_ sector classification, but otherwise the entire thing was yet another example of a typically dry, sterile recording of various ship schematics and maps. Sasuke had read it front to back, back to front, had examined every passage in detail, and still nothing.

And yet, it was the closest thing to a lead he had. If this Sector 7- whatever it was- had nothing to do with Hinata’s disappearance, then he was back at square one.

And time was running out.

Rousing himself from his thoughts, Sasuke returned his attention to the screen in front of him.

_Reading the data itself is getting me nowhere. There must be something else I’m missing, that Hinata saw. Hinata is an analyst, I need to think like she would. Maybe the authour, or something else about the file itself?_

Rising from his seat with a barely perceptible groan, his back cracking mercilessly in protest of being moved so quickly after the day of sitting, Sasuke approached the circulation desk where Shikadai was seating, busily tapping away at the data screen set into the desk’s slanted surface. Seeing his superior officer approaching, he quickly shifted and moved to stand.

“At ease, ensign, no need to get up. It turns out, I do have something you can help me with-” Sasuke placed the data card containing the suspect file on the desk surface. “There’s a particular file saved to this data card, I’m wondering what information you can give me about who authored it.”

Shikadai nodded, inserting the card into his workstation. “Of course sir, I’ll perform an administrative focus on it.” His fingers moved expertly across the screen, accessing the file and pulling up the back-end data on its creation.

“The file itself was written on Mission Date 6 Acta, MY 6, by a Clerical Cell Petty Officer named Shiho- apologies, sir, but the first name isn’t listed. The file is a copy of a physical record brought on-board the Konoha at launch, copied in order to preserve the record. The original article was written 2 years pre-Mission Date, by a Sarutobi Corporation engineer named Toru Daisuke.

“Does any of that help, sir?”

Sasuke processed the information. Written by a Petty Officer 76 years ago, as a copy of a record that was even older, and apparently was created as part of standard documenting procedures. Certainly nothing that sounded worth investigating, but-

“Sir?”

Sasuke blinked, as Shikadai began interfacing with the data screen again. 

“Apologies, I didn’t mean to interfere with your thinking. I’m aware you have your reasons for being vague with your requests, but just from looking at you it seems this information doesn’t interest you much. I assume you’re looking for something a bit more recent?”

_Thank goodness for that Nara brain._ “You’d be correct, Ensign.” Remembering the pretense he’d come to Records under the first place, he added “Has Lieutenant Uzumaki ever accessed this file for prolonged periods of time? Or signed it out from the Records Cell?”

Shikadai returned to his workstation. After a few moments of studious tapping away, he looked back at the Captain.

“It appears she signed it out several weeks ago, for 3 days. And before that…”

Something in the young man’s tone caught Sasuke’s interest. “Someone else signed it out?”

“Hai, sir… about three ship’s years ago, signed out for nearly an entire year. A surgeon in the Medical Cell named Kabuto Yakushi.”

Sasuke’s mind raced. He’d seen the file himself, there was little to no chance that anyone would have required a week to view all of the information the file had to offer, let alone an entire year.

And a surgeon? What reason could Yakushi possibly have for signing out a structural schematic of the Konoha?

Nodding, Sasuke clapped Shikadai on the shoulder, causing the young man to jump slightly. “Thank you very much, Ensign Nara, I appreciate all of your assistance. Can I ask you to do me a small favor, and secure my workstation? I need to find Kabuto Yakushi.”

* * *

Back in Sector 2, in front of the door to Naruto and Hinata’s quarters, Sakura Uchiha steeled herself before reaching out and keying the call function on the security door’s keypad.

She’d slept very little the night before. Sasuke had been home late, just like he had been nearly every night for the last week, and it hadn’t been long after his return that he’d excused himself to retire. She’d accompanied him, then laid awake in their bed for hours listening to his smooth breathing as he slept.

Something was not right about the situation with Hinata. She was an utterly caring woman, and her friends meant the world to her; she wouldn’t have not mentioned a thing to any of them about having to isolate from all of them for such a long time.

There was something else going on, and she had a horrible feeling Sasuke knew what it was. Which meant he was lying to her.

Upon coming to this realization that morning, Sakura had decided to visit Naruto. Surely whatever was going on with his wife, Naruto would at least have some idea, and he’d be much easier to pry information out of than her husband.

Besides, it had been quite a while since she’d visited, and even longer since she’d seen Naruto on his own. If nothing else, it would be nice to catch up.

Sakura was pulled out of her thoughts by the soft sound of the Uzumaki family’s front door sliding open. Naruto stood in the doorway, and seeing who had rung, his face lit up before he reached out and grabbed her in a bone-crunching hug.

“Sakura! It’s so good to see you! Would you like to come in?”

Naruto released the pink-haired woman from his hug as he spoke and smiled warmly as he turned and gestured for her to follow him into his home. Sakura returned his smile as she complied, but couldn’t help but notice the slightest shadow looming in his eyes.

He knew something. She’d been right.

Once they’d settled down on the cozy couches inside the apartment’s living space, Naruto focused his attention on the woman who’d come to see him. “I’m sorry, Boruto is at work, and Hiwamari… well, you know the way she is, she studies as much as you did back in our Academy days. Practically lives there most of the time.” He smiled warmly at the mention of his children, and Sakura was relieved to see the shadow she’d noticed earlier lift from him. “How are you doing? How is Sarada?”

“I’m doing well, and Sarada is excellent- she loves her new position on the helm crew. She’s been itching to come talk to you about it.” For a while, they settled into a comfortable routine of chatting away about nothing in particular, sharing small talk and funny work stories. Sakura felt her heart swell at just being able to visit her friend again; it felt like free time was such a precious commodity these days.

Finally, after Naruto had finished excitedly talking her ear off about her baby news, Sakura felt the time was right to bring the mood crashing back down with the topic she’d come to discuss in the first place.

“Naruto… I wanted to ask you about Hinata.”

Naruto’s expression darkened, for a split second, and a spike of fear pierced Sakura like a shard of ice. Then he tried to smile, putting all the warmth that she knew him for into the expression, but Sakura wasn’t fooled. She’d known Naruto for longer than nearly anyone on board, and she could read him like a datapad.

“Ahh, I should have figured… She felt so bad about not telling anyone, but the assignment was so sudden, and she had to report to Sci-Ops straight away.”

Sakura studied him for a moment; the messy blonde hair, the shining blue eyes, and the perpetually kind face schooled into what he probably thought was a totally reassuring grin. “Is everything okay, Naruto? I mean, with Hinata?”

This time, he didn’t bother to hide the slight frown that formed. “Everything’s totally fine, Sakura- what are you getting at?”

Sakura reached up to her face and rubbed her lips with the back of her hand. “I don’t know, Naruto... I guess I’m worried about nothing. The suddenness of Hinata going away has got me all out of sorts.” Even as she reassured him, the tiny core of cold fear she’d felt earlier was beginning to reform. More than ever, she was convinced that something was not right, but somehow Naruto was proving to be even more evasive than she figured Sasuke would be.

Naruto nodded, standing from his seat on the couch. “I understand, it was definitely surprising- but there’s nothing to worry about, I promise you. She’ll be home in a week, and we’ll have dinner or something.” His eyes widened slightly, then his gaze darted to the kitchen. “And speaking of dinner, I’d better start getting things ready, Hiwamari and Boruto are both actually going to be home to eat today, for once!”

Sakura nodded and pasted on a smile, rising from her own chair. “For sure, don’t let me get in your way. I’m just going to go use your bathroom, then I’ll be leaving.” Passing into the small hallway leading off the living room, Sakura glanced into the bedchamber that Naruto and Hinata shared. Unsurprisingly, with Hinata gone, the place was a state of barely-controlled chaos, and she couldn’t help but chuckle under her breath at Naruto’s belongings scattered everywhere throughout the room. 

Standing at the shiny white bathroom sink, Sakura stared at herself in the mirror hanging on the wall for a few moments. 

_Maybe I was wrong? Maybe it really was just a sudden work assignment, like everyone is saying?_

She shook her head firmly. _No. I saw the look he gave me when I mentioned her. He’s hiding something from me, and so is Sasuke._

Slowly stepping out the bathroom door, Sakura listened carefully, until she heard the sound of Naturo busily searching through cupboards. Satisfied, she quietly stepped into the couple’s bedchamber, then keyed the door to slide shut behind her.

She didn’t even really know what she expected to find. Whatever was going on, Naruto slept in this room every night, surely if there was any indication of where Hinata had gone that he didn’t want to be seen, he’d have hidden it already.

Although, this was Naruto she was talking about…

Sakura quickly began a cursory search of the room. Picking through piles of Naruto’s discarded clothes, opening nightstand drawers, looking under the bed and checking behind the dressers all turned up no results.

However, when she opened Hinata’s wardrobe, she paused. The synthetic wood cabinet consisted of a main clothing closet with several smaller drawers flanking it, all closed behind two intricately-carved main doors. Opening those doors, she discovered that the closet space was nearly filled with clothes, and quick investigation of the drawers showed the same.

_She went for a two-week research assignment, and took NONE of her clothes with her?_

Slowly swinging the wardrobe door shut, Sakura turned to leave and confront Naruto with this new information, before something caught her eye. 

On the opposite wall of the room, a few large framed picture screens showed various scenes of Naruto, Hinata, and their children at various points throughout their lives. The center picture was of Naruto and Hinata’s wedding day.

And it was askew. Not overtly, but just enough for Sakura’s keen eye to spot it.

Crossing the room, Sakura took hold of the picture and pushed it slightly, straightening the frame in line with the rest. As she did, something fell from behind the frame, hitting the carpeted floor with a soft thud.

Bending to pick up the object, Sakura’s face was a mask of confusion.

_A data card… an old one, by the looks of it._

Straightening out, Sakura studied the small piece of metal and plastic between her fingers. It wasn’t likely that Naruto would have thought to hide anything behind that frame.

Which meant only one thing: Hinata had hidden this datacard, and she’d hidden it from Naruto. Sakura left the bedroom, heading toward the kitchen with her discovery in her hand.

Just before she entered the common area, though, she paused.

In the days following, she would try to name a reason for why she did what she did. No explanation she could provide felt right. All she knew was that, for some reason, an urge struck her. Something deep within her mind whispered that whatever was on this datacard, Naruto should not be seeing it.

Instead of heading into the kitchen to share what she’d found with her friend, she pocketed the datacard, said a cheerful goodbye to Naturo, and left the apartment.

As soon as the door slid shut behind her, her smile faded, and she turned toward the corridor leading to her own family’s quarters.

There was no sense hiding from the truth any longer. Her husband had some explaining to do.

* * *

At the same moment that Sakura was discovering the hidden datacard in the Uzumaki’s bedroom, Sasuke had just entered the staff room in the _Konoha’s_ medical bay. The room was nearly entirely furnished with pristine white fixtures, tall lockers and low benches filling a substantial portion of the space while the rest was devoted to a small kitchenette and sitting area, for orderlies and medics on down time. Currently, the room was empty- save for one man, seated in a straight-backed armchair, scribbling notes onto a sheet of paper. The man he’d come to see.

“Petty Officer Yakushi?”

The object of his attention looked up from his deliberations, saw Sasuke approaching through the locker area, and his eyes widened slightly. Hastily setting down his pen and paper, the surgeon rose from his seat and offered a salute, which Sasuke returned.

“Good afternoon, Captain Uchiha… we don’t often see the command team in our end of the ship. What brings you here today?”

“Actually, I wanted to have a word with you.” Sasuke reached into his tunic pocket and retrieved his personal datapad, where he’d saved the name of the document containing the mysterious reference to Sector 7. “I’m performing a minor audit of the ship’s record usage, and there is a document that I saw you had prolonged access to a few years ago.” Sasuke handed the datapad to Kabuto. “I wondered if you’d be able to shed a little light on why a surgeon would need 9 ship’s months to study a schematic of the _Konoha_?” 

Taking the datapad, Kabuto glanced down at the information on the screen. Sasuke studied him carefully to see his response to the question, but the other man’s face betrayed nothing as he read the name of the file.

Handing back the datapad, Kabuto nodded briefly. “Ah, I see… It does seem a bit odd, doesn’t it? The answer is nothing so interesting, unfortunately- I had a young friend in the Academy who was totally set on entry into the Engineering Cell, but unfortunately was struggling with studying for his placement test at the end of the year. I told him I would assist him in whatever I could, but he had the pride of youth in him. You know how they can be.” Kabuto looked pointedly at the young Captain. “So, instead, I took the liberty of retrieving that record, so that I could better inform myself on the mechanical goings-on of the _Konoha_ , and instead seeded small pieces of information here and there in our conversations, so I could help him study without him realizing what I was doing. Not terribly honest, I’ll admit, but in the end, he was successful in his placement, so I consider the results worthwhile.”

The older man’s tone was light and conversational, his face a perfectly pleasant smile. However, Sasuke found himself almost immediately distrusting his account of what he’d done. The slight at his own conduct while in the Academy had been one thing, and he’d managed to prevent the disdain from showing in his face at being reminded of how lost he’d been at the time. But even so, something about the story- and Yakushi in general, if he was being honest- made his skin crawl.

“That’s awfully generous of you… and to hold the record for an entire year? You must have become quite the expert on the _Konoha’s_ inner workings.”

Kabuto shrugged. “Unfortunately, I can’t say I retained all that much of the information.”

Sasuke consulted his datapad again. “So, your access to this file was around two ship’s years ago, correct?”

The smile slipped from Kabuto’s face, ever so slightly. “Hai, sir… as you can see from the usage stats you have in front of you.”

“Of course, of course… a bit of a strange choice of study material, to help someone in their Academy pursuits? A document that’s nearly 90 years old? Why not something more recent?”

Kabuto’s eyes flashed, ever so slightly, before he replied. This time, there was very little pleasantness in his voice.

“It seemed improper of me to take any records that the actual Engineering Cell may have needed at the time.”

Sasuke nodded. “Ahh, of course, how foolish of me.” As he spoke, a message flashed on his datapad: 

_Missed communication. From: Uchiha, Sakura._

Closing the datapad, he returned it to his pocket. “Very well, I appreciate your honesty, Petty Officer Yakushi. If you happen to recall any other noteworthy information about your use of the file, my office is open any time.”

Kabuto’s smile returned once again, and this time Sasuke had no trouble seeing the sneer hidden under the thin facade. “I’ll be certain to do that, sir.”

Strolling out of the room, Sasuke felt the surgeon’s eyes on him the entire time. Once outside, he let out a deep breath as he returned to his pocket to check his communications. 

_I do not like that man._

Accessing his communication logs, a voice message appeared from his wife. Frowning slightly, he tapped play.

“We need to talk. About Hinata Uzumaki.”

* * *

Back in the Uchiha residence, Sakura was seated at the kitchen table, a mostly untouched cup of tea sitting in front of her. At the sound of the main door opening, she turned to see Sasuke step into the apartment, shutting the door behind him. His eyes met hers, and for a handful of seconds, no words were spoken.

Predictably, he broke the silence. “What was it you wanted to discuss?”

Sakura reached onto the counter beside her, retrieving a datapad. As she spoke, she motioned for him to sit down.

“I know something has happened to Hinata.”

Sasuke forced himself not to react to her words, as he lowered himself down into the seat across the table from her. 

“Sasuke.” She slid the datapad across the table to him, her eyes never leaving his face as she did so. “I went to visit Naruto today. He told me nothing, if that’s what you’re worried about,” she added as she saw his eyes narrow. “But while I was there, I happened to find something in their room. It’s a datacard, an old one… and it had this on it.”

Despite himself, Sasuke snatched the datapad from the table at her words. His first look at the screen proved disappointing, as it appeared to only be yet another blueprint, this one showing Sector 6- the huge section where the Maintenance crews lived and worked.

_If I never see another ship’s schematic for the rest of my life, it’ll be too soon._

Then, he saw it: A single section of the Maintenance section, marked with a small luminescent red dot. A section very close to the ship’s hangar.

Tapping on the light, the screen abruptly changed. An image appeared, with a few short lines of text immediately above them.

Sasuke stared at the screen, horror gripping his heart like a vice. The image was of Boruto and Hiwamari, sitting at a table at one of the shipboard restaurants with several friends. The image had clearly been captured from far away, and the subjects of the image were blissfully unaware.

The text simply said:

_We need Sector 7._

_Find it._

_Or they will never be safe._

Sasuke let the datapad fall to the tabletop. For what may have been the first time in his life, he was completely and utterly caught off guard. Looking at Sakura’s ashen face, he realized for the first time that she was trying desperately not to be sick.

“Sakura… Hinata is missing. I’ve spent the last week combing the Records Cell, hoping that something she’d been reading would give me a lead on where she is.” He gestured at the datapad. “Sector 7 is a phrase I found in her query history. She somehow stumbled across a reference to it in an old ship’s document, and now…”

Sakura reached over, tapped the datapad’s screen a few times to close the terrifying message, then returned it to the counter. “Now, someone knows that she’s found something. And they needed her information. Badly.”

Sasuke stood abruptly. “She’s in Sector 6. At the location pinged on the schematic, she has to be.” He turned toward the door. “Yakushi was lying.”

Sakura grabbed his arm before he was able to get up and leave. Her face was a mask of confusion and disgust. “What about Kabuto?”

Sasuke shook his head, pulling her to her feet. “I’ll explain on the way.”

* * *

“Yakushi. In my office, now.”

For the second time that day, Kabuto Yakushi found his note-taking interrupted; this time, not only by Captain Uchiha, but by his direct supervisor as well. 

“Lieutenant Uchiha? Is something the-”

“ _Now._ ”

Without another word, Sasuke and Sakura barged through the door of Sakura’s office, Kabuto following. There was a look of sheer bewilderment on his face, but Sasuke wasn’t buying it this time- the man had already proven that he could sell a story any way that suited his needs.

As Sakura closed the office door behind them, Sasuke rounded on the grey-haired man.

“You lied to me.”

Kabuto blinked. “Sir? I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

_Enough of this._ Sasuke’s close-quarters combat training kicked in as, in one smooth movement, he grabbed Kabuto’s wrist, twisted his arm behind his back, and forced his body against the office wall. He heard Kabuto hiss in pain at the impact and Sakura gasp, but ignored them both. If anything was going to put the man off his guard, it would be this.

“You signed out that record for someone in Sector 6. I want to know who it was, and why.”

At the mention of the maintenance sector, Sasuke saw Kabuto’s eyes widen, and for the first time, a genuine emotion flashed across his face: complete and total shock.

“What? I don’t-”

Sasuke pushed ever so slightly on Kabuto’s trapped wrist, and the man yelped in pain.

“Ahh! What I was going to say was, I don’t know why they needed it! He came to me, late one evening, and told me that he needed that record! He offered credits, at first, but when I hesitated he threatened me! I had no choice, I swear!”

Sasuke abruptly released Kabuto’s arm, and the older man fell into one of the office chairs, gasping in pain. He reached up and tentatively touched his shoulder, wincing.

“Petty Officer Yakushi, you may not realize what you’ve done, but I have every reason to court martial you for your actions.” Kabuto’s eyes widened at that, but Sasuke continued on. “Regardless, I will not move forward with any further action, if- and only if- you comply with the following requirements.

“Firstly: No word of this confrontation leaves this room. Ever.”

Kabuto took a deep, shuddering breath. “Fine.”

“Excellent. Now, who asked you for the record? I want a name.”

Kabuto said two words. For a moment, Sasuke could only stare. A dull roaring sounded in his ears, preventing all rational thought. He felt Sakura grab his hand.

“Yakushi, if you’re lying to me again…”

Kabuto raised his hands, wincing again as he moved his right arm. “Captain, I swear to you on the Mother and any other god who will listen, I am not. The record was signed out at the... request, let’s call it... of a man who only gave his name as Nagato. He’s a maintenance worker, that’s all I know.

“But the request was delivered by your brother. Itachi Uchiha.”


	5. Special Delivery

“Sasuke, I still don’t support you trying to go do this alone.”

Sasuke adjusted his earpiece as Sakura’s voice rang into his ear, patching through his datapad safely stowed in his pocket. In front of him, one of the more inauspicious entrance doors to Sector 6 was slowly grinding its way open.

“Even ignoring how dangerous Maintenance is at the best of times, unless we’re wildly misunderstanding the message I found, these people essentially kidnapped Hinata. What do you think they’ll do when you start poking around down there?”

The door finally wrenched itself all the way open, coming to a stop with an agonized screech followed by a muffled clang. Past the dark steel doors, a cramped-looking passageway led vertically down into the cavernous depths of the Maintenance section. The rungs of a service ladder were barely visible in the dim light provided by luminescent strips running down the walls.

“Kabuto said Itachi had something to do with this. Of all the things I have to worry about down there, this group isn’t one of them- not yet, anyway.”

There was a long pause, and Sasuke could practically see Sakura’s face in his mind’s eye, her expression a mixture of barely concealed contempt and completely naked disapproval. 

“Sasuke… I know he’s your brother. But he’s been gone for years now, I don’t think…”

Sasuke let her trail off into nothingness before he replied.

“Regardless of how Itachi does or doesn’t feel, this group isn’t stupid. They know that if they so much as lay a hand on me, they’ll be inciting a full-fledged civil war with the Konoha’s navy. There’ll be veiled threats, probably some insults, but they won’t go that far.”

A defeated sigh sounded in his earpiece. “I still wish you’d taken someone with you.”

“Sakura, there is no one. The only other people who know about this are Kakashi and Naruto. Kakashi can’t possibly come down here without arousing suspicion, and Naruto is… well… Naruto.”

Sakura chuckled grimly. 

“I promise, I’ll be very careful. All I’m looking for now is information; if they really do have Hinata down here, I’m not going to march in and demand they free her by myself.”

“Alright… Be safe. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Shutting down his earpiece and stowing it in his tunic pocket with his datapad, Sasuke took a deep breath. Stepping through the door, he began the long climb down to Sector 6.

As he climbed, Sasuke’s thoughts swirled through his head. Despite the confidence he’d spoken to Sakura with, there was a small part of him that couldn’t help but be apprehensive when dealing with the Maintenance section, and for good reason.

Sector 6 was by far the largest section of the Konoha, taking up the entirety of the massive lower ring of the ship. It was a maze of passages, crawlspaces, and, in the section he was heading toward, a ramshackle city that had been established among the corridors and empty chambers of the section.

The people who lived in Sector 6, the maintenance and crew and (very rarely) their families, had little to no contact with the rest of the ship. They had a contact within Akimichi Agriculture, to procure foodstuffs that they couldn’t grow themselves, and occasionally worked with Engineering to resolve mechanical issues with the Konoha that originated in the bottom of the ship. Everything else, they managed themselves.

Sasuke didn’t envy the naval crew that was required to liaise with Sector 6, because the maintenance dwellers, as a rule, _despised_ the rest of the ship.

When the Konoha had launched, an opportunity had been provided to some of Earth’s less fortunate denizens for passage aboard the ship, in exchange for a position working in grimy, difficult, and often dangerous roles as maintenance laborers. Some of this first maintenance crew had even been convicted felons, who’d had their sentences commuted into labor aboard the Konoha to work the most dangerous jobs of all. 

Because of this crew composition, it was quickly established that contact between Sector 6 and the rest of the ship was to be kept to a bare minimum. It didn’t take long for a class divide to form, with Sector 6 developing a hatred of the “topsiders” that lived in significantly better conditions than they did, and the rest of the ship immediately reviling and fearing the uncouth, bitter, and angry men and women who worked below. 

Many years before Sasuke had been born, Chief Consul Danzo Shimura had spearheaded an initiative to strengthen relationships with the maintenance crew at the time.

Then, the Riots happened.

Shaking his head, Sasuke pulled himself out of his reminiscence and returned his mind to the task at hand. He’d reached the bottom of the ladder, and reached a dingy and rusted door labelled _Habitation Site B_. Below the worn and faded sign, graffiti had been scrawled across much of the door. Some of the more easily-read phrases included “TOP SCUM”, “NOT YOUR PLACE” and “PIGS OF THE SKY”.

Keying the door open, Sasuke stepped through into Habitation Site B, one of the three wings that made up the residential and commercial section of Sector 6. Rather than the large, airy chambers of the upper _Konoha_ , down here, long corridors essentially formed streets, with sections along both slides walled off with sheets of metal and plasteel to form ramshackle stalls and storefronts. Every few hundred meters, a doorway would signal an actual chamber off the corridor.

It was early in the morning, by ship’s time, but the Maintenance section was operational all hours of the day and night, and so even now the corridor was a bustle of activity. As he walked past a grimy-looking bar, a few men seated at the counter turned from their cracked glasses of colourless alcohol and studied him with disdain. One spit, but fortunately, his aim wasn’t all that good.

All the way down the corridor, Sasuke did his best to keep his eyes forward, ignoring the looks of curious hostility directed at him. Reaching a bend in the hallway, he reached into his pocket to consult his datapad’s map. He’d marked the location shown in the threat Hinata had received, and thankfully, it wasn’t too far into the city; he was nearly there now.

About 20 feet past the corner, the hallway opened into one of the few large chambers in the Sector 6 city. It looked almost like a market, where vendors noisily proclaimed their wares to anyone who would listen. The air was clear, but there was a taste of oil in it that likely never faded.

At the far end of the chamber, Sasuke spied his destination. A large, dome-shaped building had been constructed at one of the chamber walls out of discarded steel panels. The lone entrance was closed with a deep black fabric curtain, and flanked by a pair of men. They appeared unarmed, but Sasuke knew better than to trust in appearances down here.

Approaching the two guards, Sasuke raised a hand in greeting. Predictably, neither guard returned the gesture. 

“I’m looking for Itachi Uchiha.”

One of the men, a hulking brute with a bald head and several insidious-looking tattoos ringing his heavily muscled arms outright laughed at his words, his large stomach shaking as he guffawed. The other was smaller, leaner, and looked a bit better-facultied than his companion. His right eye was white and blind, an ugly scar crossing it at a diagonal and ending in a small chunk taken out of the bridge of his nose. Peering at Sasuke out of his left, the man’s reply was short.

“That’s good for you. He’s not taking visitors today.”

Sasuke extended his hands in front of him, palms up. “Tell him his brother wants a word.”

The small guard blinked, his good eye focusing on Sasuke’s face and taking in his appearance. Then he jerked his head toward the larger man, who grumbled before turning to push through the curtain. A cloud of black dust billowed out of the fabric’s folds, and Sasuke resisted the urge to cover his mouth and nose.

A few moments passed as Sasuke and the smaller guard stared at each other without speaking. Blessedly, the other man’s absence was short. Emerging from the dome, he nodded to his smaller companion, who reached into his pocket. For a split second, Sasuke’s combat training from the Academy kicked in, and he had to bite his tongue and force himself not to react as the man pulled out a small scanner. Passing it up Sasuke’s right side, then down his left, he consulted the green display before nodding and tucking it back where it’d come from.

“Follow me. Touch anything, look anywhere that I don’t, and there’ll be trouble.”

Sasuke nodded, entering the hut. 

The inside was more spacious than he’d expected, and he realized that it had been built against a niche in the wall of the main chamber. Weaving through a maze of shipping crates and shelves, the guard eventually reached a small open area, Sasuke in tow.

The storage that cluttered most of the inside of the space gave way to a small but neat-looking sitting area, located against the right wall of the dome. A bar jutted from the wall in question, but it was clean and looked to be very well-stocked. An assortment of chairs, sofas, and a large round table were scattered throughout the open space. 

Sasuke’s eyes took all of this in very quickly, and without too much interest: his eye was immediately drawn to the figures seated around the table.

The closest one to him was a young man with long blonde hair, tied behind his head messily in a ponytail. He had handsome, unremarkable features, but Sasuke was struck to see that his left eye was mechanical, a mid-grade prosthetic from the looks of it. Augmented body parts of any kind were rare aboard ship, eyes especially so; Sasuke would have comfortably guessed that this young man had the only implant of its kind aboard the entire _Konoha._

Next to him, a very large man sat, even larger than the guard who had remained outside. His arms were solid beams of pure muscle, probably from years of maintenance labor, and his bare chest was wide and defined. His skin was a strange, pallid grey, and he had several strange v-shaped lines creasing his cheeks below his eyes, which were small and grey as well. He had just finished a roaring laugh at something the blonde man had said, and Sasuke could see that he’d had his teeth filed to points.

Across the table from them sat a man and a woman, in chairs next to each other. The man had shoulder-length hair, dyed vivid red, but Sasuke was most struck by his eyes. Like the large man seated across the table from him, they were grey, but rather than a pale, sickly grey, these were a dark, slate colour. The woman seated next to him had her deep blue hair arranged in a bun on top of her head, held in place with a small ornamental flower. She had a single silver ball-shaped piercing in her lower lip, and heavily lidded green eyes.

And next to them sat Itachi Uchiha, Sasuke’s brother. The man who had left his family when Sasuke himself was barely out of the Academy.

All five of the figures seated at the table turned toward the newcomers. The guard bowed his head and left without a word, nearly tripping over himself, and Sasuke immediately understood one thing; the people he was keeping company with were feared, even here in Sector 6. 

Swallowing his doubt, Sasuke looked each of them in the eyes in turn. The blonde man looked uninterested, but the large grey-skinned man had an almost predatory mirth in his eyes, as though Sasuke had told him some hilarious, terrible joke. The red-haired man and blue-haired woman had similarly neutral expressions, and the weight behind the gaze of the man in particular…

_This must be Nagato. He’s in charge here._

Turning away from those steady, steely eyes, Sasuke instead turned to Itachi, his coal-black eyes locked onto Sasuke’s own. 

There was silence, for a handful of seconds. For a moment, a nearly palpable energy cracked in the air like a dangerous electric current, and no one seemed to want to break it.

Then, the red-haired man spoke.

“I understand you’re here to speak to your brother, but might I ask that you indulge me in some formalities first? I prefer for my guests to have names.” Even as he said it, the look in his eye made it clear as day that he knew exactly what Sasuke’s name was, and probably many more personal things about him, but the message was clear:

_You’re not topside anymore. Down here, my word is law, and we do things the way I want them done._

Sasuke let his gaze linger on Itachi’s calm face for one more second, then turned to face his host. “Of course… Where are my manners? My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I am the Chief Consul of the Konoha.”

“Welcome to Sector 6, Captain Uchiha… it’s not often that we play host to a figure of your stature. My name is Nagato- we don’t trade much in surnames down here. They’re a badge of trust.” As he spoke, he nodded to each of his companions in turn. 

“This is Konan next to me, my second-in-command. This is Deidara,” The young blonde man nodded briefly, and although his natural eye was pointed at Sasuke’s face, his implanted eye was very clearly swiveling to look across the dome at something else entirely. “And this is Kisame.” The large man bared his pointed teeth in another huge grin as he raised a hand. “They are my… associates, shall we say, similarly to your brother.”

Sasuke nodded at each introduction. Once Nagato had concluded, he gestured to an empty seat at the table, nowhere near anyone already seated. “May I?”

Nagato’s lip twitched as he folded his hands in front of him, ever so slightly, but his face otherwise remained a perfectly composed mask of businesslike neutrality. “Please.”

Pulling out the stiff-backed metal chair, Sasuke settled in at the table. Carefully placing both hands on the tabletop, clearly visible to all parties, he addressed Nagato again.

“Actually, the business I’ve come to discuss has as much to do with you as it does my brother, Mr…. Nagato. Itachi’s name just seemed like the easiest way to make it through the door.

Kisame chuckled at his words, and even Konan raised an eyebrow at the young Uchiha’s boldness to admit such a thing. Nagato, however, did not react, merely gesturing for Sasuke to continue.

“What kind of business do you and your… associates… engage in down here, if you don’t mind my asking?”

Still no change to that carefully constructed expression. “I don’t begrudge anyone asking anything. Answering, on the other hand, I have a more particular stance on.” Shifting slightly in his seat, Nagato weaved his fingers together beneath his chin. “I have a wide array of arrangements and business dealings throughout Sector 6, ranging from procurement and redistribution to protection services. Nothing that would be of much interest to you, I’m sure.”

“You sound very well-connected. Not much happens at this end of the ship without your knowledge, I think it’s safe to assume?”

Nagato’s eyebrows rose, ever so slightly. “I sense that we’re approaching the thrust of the discussion, as it were.”

Sasuke favored him with a small, calculated smile. “You see… I’m in the midst of something of a crisis. One of my crew disappeared recently, giving no notice and leaving no indication of where she’d done. A woman, Lieutenant Hinata Uzumaki.” Sasuke’s eyes briefly flickered around the table, attempting to catch a reaction to the name, but none appeared. “I wondered whether you, or anyone within your organization had encountered any sign of her.” 

The silence at the table thickened to the consistency of engine oil. Nagato’s eyes shifted to Konan for a few seconds, but his expression betrayed nothing of his thoughts before he looked back at Sasuke. “Is that name meant to mean something to me?” When Sasuke didn’t respond, he continued. “I understand why your instinct would be to look here. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time a person got lost, shall we say, in Sector 6. As to why you’d come to us in particular…” His dark eyes met Sasuke’s once again, and the younger man felt an unpleasant shudder in spite of himself as he saw the look in those deep grey orbs. For the first time, Sasuke seriously questioned the justification he’d given Sakura for coming down here alone. 

“I’m sure there was no implication intended.” Sasuke gave a start as Itachi spoke, for the first time since he’d arrived. “My brother is dutiful to a fault, and no doubt it’s highly important to him to find his crewmate.”

“I’m sure that’s true.” Konan’s smooth voice joined the conversation as she leaned forward in her seat. Beside her, Nagato settled back and closed his eyes, seemingly content to allow his right-hand woman to take the reins of the conversation for a while. “Captain Uchiha, your dedication to those under your command is commendable. Rest assured, if we had any information that would assist your investigation, it would be given gladly.”

Sasuke slowly reached into his pocket and fiddled with the datacard contained there, contemplating his next move.

_I never did expect them to admit it. Short of flat-out showing them the datacard contents- which would essentially be an accusation, and I can’t imagine that would be taken all that well- I don’t see all that much else I can do here. Not now, and not alone, anyway._

Sasuke nodded, partially to himself, partially to Konan. “I understand.” Rising from his seat, Sasuke was about to turn to leave when a thought struck him.

“Actually, one last thing before I go… Does the phrase ‘Sector 7’ mean anything to you?”

Nagato’s eyes snapped open. 

Konan didn’t turn to look at him, but her body language immediately became tense at the mention of the phrase. “Sector 7? There’s no such thing, is there?”

Sasuke nodded. Behind him, he heard the slow footsteps of the guard from earlier approaching, presumably to escort him back out. “I suppose you’re right. Just a bit of a tangent my thoughts took, think nothing of it.” He turned to meet the stocky guard, nodding in greeting. “Your assistance is greatly appreciated, I assure you. Should any trace of Lieutenant Uzumaki surface in your territory of Sector 6, can I count on you to contact me?”

Nagato’s eyes bored into Sasuke’s black ones, and he saw the look had returned. However refined his speech, and his talk of protocol and guest treatment, there was no mistake: this man was dangerous. Incredibly so.

“Of course, Captain.” This time, the red-haired man’s pleasantly conversational tone was undercut but the slightest edge.

Sasuke nodded, suddenly very prepared to be out of Sector 6 entirely. “Excellent. Thank you for your time.”

Turning to leave, Sasuke followed the guard back into the maze of containers. As he left, he felt the eyes of Nagato boring into his back, following him the entire way.

* * *

Many levels above, in the Engineering section, Boruto was forming a plan.

Disinterestedly picking away at the remains of his lunch, the young man’s thoughts were far away, in the Science division. He knew that his mother was a very important person, and he was proud of the fact that when there was an important experiment to oversee, she was brought in to do so. But all the same, she’d left so suddenly, without saying goodbye… 

He may have inherited his father’s looks and temperament, but he was his mother’s son, even if he’d never admit it. And he missed her terribly.

Looking up at the clock set into the wall of the break room, Boruto considered his next move. He’d been assigned early lunch, and as a result it was barely 10:30 in the morning, ship’s time.

He knew that the study his mother was recording was important, and that isolation was a significant factor in completing it, hence the fact that she’d been unable to leave for a week now… but she had to eat, right? And that meant someone was delivering her food.

Throwing the remains of his meal into the trash can, Boruto made up his mind, leaving Engineering and heading for the Science division.

* * *

Inside the Science section, Boruto weaved around the throngs of ensigns and petty officers rushing to and fro to reach the reception desk. As he walked up, the young woman seated at it looked at him and smiled.

“Can I help you, Ensign Uzumaki?”

As he opened his mouth to reply, Boruto suddenly spied something on a table behind the desk. Neatly stacked on the table’s surface were several small white meal containers.

_Bingo._

Looking back at the ensign working the desk, Boruto returned her smile. “Good morning Namida! I was actually wondering if I could ask a favor: it’s coming up on lunchtime, and I know that means you’ll be making rounds to deliver meals to the experimental bays. How about I take some of that work off your hands, and take food to my- I mean, Lieutenant Uzumaki and Ensign Ise?”

Namida frowned slightly and rubbed her chin. “Well… actually, Boruto, Lieutenant Mitarashi has been personally delivering meals to that bay. She wants the integrity of the experiment kept completely intact, so that means minimizing interaction with anyone else.”

Boruto blinked. The head of the entire Science division, pulling meal duty?

_Weird. She’ll probably thank me for giving her a day off from such a boring job._

Boruto flashed his most charming smile at Namida. “I’m sure she has a thousand more important things to be doing today, I could take this off her plate! It’s no trouble, really!”

The young brunette considered his suggestion, still looking doubtful. 

Boruto sighed, and leaned in close. “Alright, do you want the truth? Fine… I just miss my mom, alright? I want to see her. I know it’s not really ‘following the rules’ or anything, but can you help me out?”

“Ooh! I see!” Namida clasped her hands in front of her. “Boruto, that’s so sweet!” Looking around, she bit her lip, then reached behind her and grabbed six meal containers. Three were labelled _Ise_ , three labelled _Uzumaki_. “I’ll let it slide, just this once. They get a full 24 hours of food at a time, to minimize interruption.”

Boruto took the white plastic containers into his arms and beamed at Namida. “You’re the best!” Without another word, he darted off toward the door labelled Experimental Bays. Rushing past the entry to Bay A, Boruto keyed open the door to B, his excitement making him bounce from one foot to the other.

As the door opened, he stepped inside. At first glance, the bay was empty, but then he spied a single-man EV pod across the chamber. Walking up to it, he saw several video screens showing a feed of the inside, confirming that this was Udon’s pod. Placing the meal containers down on a nearby table, Boruto began looking around to see where his mother was.

Before he began to look, he spied a small food storage locker placed underneath the table where he’d placed the containers.

_I suppose I can put these away before I find her._

Boruto reached out and opened the storage unit, but what he found inside gave him pause. It was already full of containers. Reaching into the icy cold cabinet, Boruto reached inside and read one of the containers in confusion.

_Lieutenant Uzumaki. Lunch, Day 3._

In disbelief, he grabbed another, then another. Every container told the same story.

This locker was filled with food that had supposedly been given to his mother, over the course of her study.

Slamming the storage locker shut, the rest of the food containers forgotten, Boruto flopped onto the floor and sat there, stunned. For a second, he grappled with the reality of what he was seeing.

Then the sound of someone yawning jolted him back to reality, and he looked at one of the video feeds of Udon. On the right edge of the screen was a small button labelled _Comms_.

Without a second though, Boruto reached up and keyed the button. 

“Udon?”

The small image of Udon on the screen jumped at the sound of his voice. “What? Who’s that?”

“Udon, it’s Boruto. Boruto Uzumaki.”

“Uh, Boruto? Are you supposed to be in here? This is an isolation-”

“Udon,” Boruto cut off the older man. “Where is my mother?”

Boruto could just make out the look of confusion on Udon’s face as he processed the question. “I.. don’t know? Is she not out there observing?”

Boruto could feel his blood running cold as he keyed the communication button again. “Udon, did you ever actually see my mom before you went into the pod to do this study?”

A few seconds pause. Then the reply came:

“Um, well, no… I was just briefed by Lieutenant Mitarashi in her office, then I had to rush to gather my things before I had to start the study, so I never actually saw her before I came in. I assumed that was why Petty Officer Uzumaki was there, to go get her before-”

“What do you mean, Petty Officer Uzumaki? My father was there?” Boruto cut him off again.

“Yes, he and Admiral Hatake were both in the office while I was being briefed. They said that I would be in here for 14 days, and that Lieutenant Uzumaki was being tasked to record my results. You mean she’s not out there?

“Boruto?”

Boruto turned away from the screen, the conversation forgotten. In just a few moments, his world had come crashing down around him.

His mother wasn’t in Science, she wasn’t recording any experiments. 

His father had lied to him.

Turning without a word, he left Experimental Bay A, picking up speed as he went. Without a word to anyone on his way out, passing a very confused-looking Namida, Boruto left the Science division and headed toward the Enforcement Cell’s headquarters.

* * *

In the Enforcement Cell, blissfully unaware of the impending disaster approaching from the Science wing, Naruto was engaged in a game of Spheres with Kiba Inuzuka. A few other Enforcement crew members, including the Prelate of Enforcement Might Guy, were watching and good-naturedly cheering on one man or the other.

Reaching out, Naruto slid one of his spheres forward three spaces, then downward two, coming to rest on the lowest tier of the game’s three-dimensional holographic “board”. Kiba cursed loudly.

“Ahh, Mother! How are you so good at this game?!”

Before Naruto could offer a word of his own, Guy interjected boisterously.

“Naruto has the soul of a warrior! He refuses to back down, and seeks victory above all else!” The rest of the crew erupted with laughter and a few scattered cheers at what their supervisor was saying.

Kiba groaned. “I cede… You’ve won this one anyway, no sense in me prolonging things.” Reaching out, the brunette shook Naruto’s hand and grinned. “One of these days, Uzumaki. One of these days!”

Naruto bared his teeth in a wicked smile of his own. “I’m looking forward to it, Inuzuka- it’ll be nice to get an actual challenge out of you for once!”

The sounds of his co-workers playfully ribbing Kiba were so loud, that Naruto was deaf to the footsteps of someone approaching behind him. A finger tapped his shoulder to get his attention. Turning in his seat, he saw Konohamaru Sarutobi, who was on lobby duty this afternoon.

“Petty Officer Uzumaki? Your-”

Before the young man could finish, the door to the entrance hall slid open, and Boruto barrelled into the room like a blonde energy spike. One look at his son caused Naruto’s smile to slide from his face.

“Boruto? What’s wrong? Aren’t you working-”

“Dad.” Boruto’s voice was flat and lifeless, but every person in the room could hear the anger simmering underneath. “Where is mom?”

The words rang out in the sudden silence of the break room. Naruto’s stomach suddenly felt like it was made of lead.

“How- what do you mean? Your mother is on assignment, like I told you early this week.”

Boruto reached out and grabbed Naruto’s shoulder. Hard. The blonde man winced, his blue eyes widening at his son’s aggression.

“Dad, don’t treat me like an idiot! I know she’s not there!” Around them, the other members of the Enforcement Cell were muttering uncomfortably, surrounding proceedings with a low hum. “I just came from the Science Cell. Udon is sitting there in a lifepod, giving hourly progress reports that no one is hearing, and _you and Admiral Hatake put him there!_ ”

Naruto’s heart stopped. “Boruto- I-”

Boruto abruptly released his grip. All at once, the anger seemed to leave him, and Naruto felt an agonizing spike of shame plunge into his chest at the mixture of sadness and pain in his son’s eyes- so like his own- as he stared at him.

“I don’t want to hear it. Not now.”

Without another word, Boruto turned and stormed out of the room. Naruto sat in stunned silence at the table, the abandoned game of Spheres bathing his face in a soft green light. Kiba’s eyes were huge, his jaw hanging open. The low hum of voices surrounding the table became a quiet roar as all around them, members of the enforcement cell began chattering about what had just happened. Naruto looked around, seeing several of his coworkers pull out datapads and begin keying comms with other crew.

_Sasuke, We’ve got a huge problem._


	6. Family Reunion

Sasuke lay in bed, staring at the ceiling of the cabin he shared with Sakura. Ship’s night was (by design) almost utterly silent, here broken only by the occasional low hum of some piece of machinery briefly activating somewhere in the walls, and by the quiet snoring of his wife beside him. Lazily reaching out a hand, Sasuke gently ran a hand through the long, pink locks. As always, he was captivated by them; such a unique color, completely unseen in anyone else currently living aboard the _Konoha_. The owner of said hair muttered something incoherent, rolled over onto her right side to face away from, then immediately resumed her snoring. Sasuke felt his face crinkle into a half-smile.

He found himself thinking about the baby that, Mother willing, they would soon have. They’d put in another spirited effort tonight, after which Sakura had fallen to sleep almost immediately. She was a heavy sleeper and she dropped off quickly, especially after they had sex. He almost envied her, in that regard; sleep very rarely found him easily, even at the best of times.

Looking back at the ceiling, his thoughts returned to their unborn (unconceived? They’d see tomorrow) child. Sakura had raised the idea, and it had come as a surprise, though not an unwelcome one by any means. He’d actually been very happy to hear her bring it up, maybe the happiest he’d been in a very long time. Something about their lives right now, the place in time… the idea felt right. 

Sarada had been overjoyed, of course. Sakura had been hesitant to tell her, in case there were complications, but Sasuke had felt she deserved to know. Besides, Sarada herself had been a model birth, which he still found funny after all these years; it was like even on her way out of the womb, she’d been determined to impress.

Unfortunately, the happy thoughts didn’t last. His visit to Sector 6 still hung in his mind, casting a pallid shadow over the (suddenly much more complicated) case of Hinata’s disappearance. He personally had very little doubt that she was down there with Nagato and his gang, after Sakura’s discovery. But knowing that only heightened his apprehension about the whole situation, and tightened his resolve to see her returned home safe. 

Whatever Nagato wanted from her, whatever reason he had for forcing her to find Sector 7, Sasuke had little illusions about what might happen once Hinata was no use to him. The man was colder than steelite, and more dangerous than a hull rupture.

_Beep._

Sasuke sat up in bed, immediately alert. His train of thought had been immediately derailed by the soft, digital chime. It was so absurd, such a ridiculous time for him to be hearing that particular sound, that it took him a few seconds to even register what the sound was.

_The cabin entrance._

Glancing back at his wife, snoring peacefully beside him, Sasuke took a deep breath and stood out of their shared bed. Striding toward the door that led to the hallway, he paused only briefly to push aside his tunic that hung on a hook behind the door and retrieve the naval-issue volt pistol secured into the holster hung behind it. Then he keyed the bedroom door open.

As soon as he stepped into the hall, he saw the faint glow of a small light, trailing into the hallway from the suite’s main living area. Breathing in as quietly as he could, Sasuke raised his sidearm to shoulder height, feeling a strange calm pass over him as his Academy conflict training came back in full force. Listening as closely as possible, he heard a chair scuff along the floor, and made his move.

Practically leaping out of the hallway entrance into the kitchen, he levelled his weapon at the figure who had broken into his home, who had just settled into a seat on one of the chairs surrounding the small dining table. The light he’d seen was only residual light from a dataad that the figure was holding, and he saw very little of the person themself, but he braced himself and aimed the pistol in the direction of their chest.

Then a lightstick clicked on and bathed the kitchen in a much brighter white light, held in the hands of the intruder.

Itachi Uchiha.

For a moment, Sasuke was too stunned to do any more than stare. Then, composing himself, he lowered his weapon slowly- but didn’t disengage its firing pin.

“What the _hell_ are you doing here? How did you get in?”

“Sasuke.” Itachi’s voice was as calm and as soothing as always, and suddenly Sasuke was back in his parent’s cabin, sitting on their couch as his big brother read him a story from a datapad. Before everything had gone wrong. Before his brother had-

“I’m sorry. I understand that this is… complicated. But I could only come when I could be certain that as few people as possible would risk seeing me. And you know I wouldn’t have come at all if it wasn’t important.”

Sasuke felt a white-hot jolt of fury leap into his throat. Through sheer strength of composure, he managed to keep his voice to a low murmur, but it was a very near thing. “You shouldn’t be here. Whatever you have to say, if it wasn’t worth saying down with your friends, it’s not worth saying.”

“I came to warn you.” The pause after the older man’s words was deliberate, and filled with implication. “You want to find your friend, and return her home safe. I swear to you on our mother and father’s lives, I do not know where she is.” Seeing Sasuke’s eyes flash dangerously at his words, Itachi pressed on hurriedly. “But I do know that she is in danger. Grave danger. And so will you be, if you continue pursuing Sector 7.”

The mysterious phrase hung in the air between them. Sasuke’s mind was a whirling dull roar of anger and confusion, so much so that rational thought was almost impossible.

“Nagato knows where she is. I don’t believe you.”

Itachi sighed and closed his eyes, rising from the chair. Sasuke’s hands tracked his movement with his sidearm out of instinct, but the firing pin of the weapon was disengaged, the trigger totally forgotten. 

“Believe what you will. I only came to try to keep you safe… you, and your family.”

In the blink of an eye, Sasuke had closed the distance between them and rammed his elbow into Itachi’s sternum, throwing the larger man against the kitchen wall. The long coat Itachi wore muffled the _thud_ his body made as it impacted the grey steel.

“If he comes anywhere _near_ my family, there will be a reckoning the likes of which he couldn’t possibly imagine. I will _raze_ Sector 6, until he has nowhere to hide. His little back-room private party is no match for the _Konoha’s_ navy, and I will bring our full force down on him. Tell him exactly that.” Sasuke broke contact, seeing his brother stagger forward ever so slightly and feeling a twinge of mean satisfaction. 

When Itachi straightened, however, there was cold mirth in his eyes, and the corner of his mouth was turned up into the faintest hint of a smile. 

“Did I ever tell you why I left?”

Sasuke clenched his hands into fists by his side. “How could you have? You disappeared when I was still at the Academy, and then I never saw you again. Not until today.”

For a long moment, Itachi was silent, studying his younger brother with dark, calculating eyes. Sasuke wanted to scream under the weight of that gaze, because he knew what his brother was seeing. Itachi had always been able to read him like a datapad, had known every little facet of his personality, his joys, his doubts, everything.

Then he spoke. “I was fresh out of the Academy. Star pupil, highly recommended to just about every department I could have asked for. Whispers around the ship were that I was bound for the Helm Prelateship, as quickly as the transfer could be made. Mother and Father couldn’t have been more proud.

“And I hated every second of it.”

“I wanted nothing to do with the Helm, nothing to do with command. I knew as well as anyone, that my path led very high in the ranks, maybe to the top. And that’s not who I was meant to be. I am a follower, not a leader, but none of the psychological evaluations or aptitude tests the idiots in the Training Cell put me through showed them that one undeniable fact.

“I tried to raise my concerns to Father. He would hear nothing of it; if I besmirched the Uchiha name by turning down such a highly-sought promotion, what would become of him and his standing? He had been sowing the seeds to secure a promotion to Consul of Advancement for years. But if his son and heir, the ship’s next 'prodigy', suddenly renounced what he should have been begging for…”

Itachi lowered his gaze to the floor. Despite himself, Sasuke found himself staring at Itachi, hanging on his every word. So many decades of questions, that he thought he’d never have a chance to ask, suddenly were being answered without him needing to.

“So I did the only thing that I could. I left. I stole away in the dead of ship's night, found my way to Sector 6. I knew that that was the only place I could go that would truly sever my ties once and for all; as soon as I was a 'bottom-dweller', Father would want nothing to do with me. Before long, I found Nagato and his group. You know the rest.”

Itachi closed his eyes, and genuine pain etched lines into his face, aging him several years. Sasuke stood in stunned silence, thinking back to the years after Itachi had left. He’d been a maelstrom of frustration, of anger at being abandoned, of total desolation. He’d worked himself nearly to death in the Academy, trying desperately to replace what his parents had lost in Itachi. He broke record after record, hardly slept, hardly ate, pushed himself to the limits of total exhaustion. 

And every evening for months after Itachi disappeared, he would sit in their cabin in silence, listening to his mother cry, seeing his father sit in front of the vision screen, blankly staring and seeing nothing. It wasn’t long before he began to sink too, falling down into a pit of blackness that there was no escaping from. Only Naruto, and his bottomless energy and goodwill, had managed to grab hold of him and drag him out of the depths.

Sasuke tossed his sidearm onto the kitchen counter. Tears brimmed just behind his eyes.

“You could only think of yourself. You nearly destroyed our parents, nearly killed me. And all because you couldn’t step up and be the man you needed to be.”

The two brothers starred directly into each other’s eyes. Neither spoke. 

Then Itachi shook his head. His mask of utterly detached calmness had returned. “Perhaps I did. But seeing what I could have become, I don’t have many regrets.” Turning toward the cabin’s entrance, Itachi was about to leave when he paused, rustling about in one of the pockets of his long black coat. His hand emerged, clutching a small package, neatly wrapped in shimmering, opaque red plastic. He held it out to Sasuke.

“For Sarada’s birthday. I know it’s a bit early, but I doubt I’ll have much of an opportunity to pass it on any other time.”

Sasuke took the package and immediately opened it. Underneath the layers of wrapping was a small, unadorned black metal box. Opening it, Sasuke was greeted by a silvery chain necklace. A small pendant shone in the middle of the box, a deep crimson stone set into it. 

He looked back up at Itachi, the anger he’d been fighting through the whole encounter slowly seeping away to be replaced with tired disgust. “You think any of this matters? You think that yearly credit transfers on her birthday and a necklace are suddenly going to make anything better?”

Itachi didn’t reply. Reaching out, he keyed the cabin door to open. “You can tell her it’s from you, if you’d rather not remind her that I exist. That’s your decision.”

Looking over his shoulder, he fixed Sasuke’s eyes with his piercing gaze one final time. 

“Find Sector 7, and you find her. Goodbye, Sasuke.”

Itachi vanished through the door of the suite into the corridor beyond. Sasuke stood in the kitchen, staring out the door until it closed. Carefully closing the lid on the box containing the necklace, Sasuke gathered up the plastic wrapping, threw it in the kitchen’s disposal unit, then retrieved his sidearm before returning to bed. 

The small black box sat on his bedside table, and he stared at it well into the night.

* * *

The next morning, Sasuke emerged sleepily from his room to find Sakura busying herself in the small kitchenette. Her form-fitting black shorts and dark maroon sleeveless shirt were partially hidden under a pink apron, emblazoned with small white points of starlight, that she’d received from Sarada as a birthday gift a few years prior. Turning toward the other end of the room, Sasuke was mildly surprised to see Sarada herself seated at the dining table. 

“Sarada? It’s awfully late for you to be here.” 

His daughter turned to look at him and smiled. “I volunteered to work the evening shift for the next few days. Most of the approach drills are happening late, and I don’t want to miss them!”

Sasuke returned her smile as he sat beside her at the table, pulling his datapad out of his pocket. Flipping disinterestedly through the various ship’s updates, he didn’t notice Sarada’s smile slip from her face.

“Dad… have you heard?”

He blinked. “Heard what?”

Sarada’s face fell. “I was afraid you wouldn’t have… Boruto told me last night. His mother, Lieutenant Uzumaki… she’s missing!”

Sasuke’s blood ran cold. Across the small kitchen, he heard Sakura’s barely inaudible gasp as she dropped something into the sizzling pan on the stove in front of her.

“Ahh… What do you mean, Sarada? He asked carefully.

“Well, Boruto went to the Science Cell yesterday to deliver lunch to the experiment bay she was supposed to be working in, so he could see her- which is adorable- but when he got there, no one was recording the results! And from the sounds of it, both his father and Admiral Hatake knew that she wasn’t.”

Sasuke fought to keep his face neutral as her words slammed into him like a stellar pulse.

_We’re out of time. If Boruto is telling people, the whole ship will know soon enough. And if he implicated Kakashi in the cover-up…_

“Dad? Will you be involved in searching for Mrs. Uzumaki? Promise me you’ll try to attach yourself somehow, alright? I want to know as soon as she’s found.”

Sasuke found himself nodding to her. His tongue felt thick, and he swallowed laboriously before he could reply. “Of course, Sarada. Anything I hear, you’ll hear.”

Sakura had managed to save the omelettes she’d been cooking, and she slid two plates across the table to her husband and daughter before sitting down to her own. Her face suggested that eating was one of the furthest things from her mind.

After poking away at his breakfast and eating just enough bites to allay his daughter’s suspicions, Sasuke stood abruptly. “Excuse me, I just remembered I have to-”

The sound of a small object dropping to the kitchen floor interrupted him. 

Sarada looked down at the floor near his feet, and her brows knitted together in confusion. “Dad, a box just fell out of your pocket. What is that?”

Sasuke groaned internally. _Wonderful… as if I didn’t have enough to be juggling right now._ Bending down, he picked up the small black container and held it for a few seconds, quickly debating in his mind what to do. Finally, with a shrug, he smiled at his daughter in what he hoped looked like a sheepish way.

“Well, this was meant to be a surprise, since your birthday isn’t for another few days, but…” He handed the box to Sarada. As her eyes lit up, Sakura shot him a questioning look out of the corner of her eye. He shook his head fractionally. 

_I’ll explain later._

“Oh my goodness, dad, I love it!” Sarada immediately removed the piece of jewelry from its case and draped it around her neck. Sasuke had to admit, despite himself, the deep red of the stone made for a striking contrast against the delicate silver metalwork and Sarada’s pale skin.

“I’m glad to hear that, my dear. Now, I need to head to the bridge… I just remembered something that I need to discuss with Admiral Hatake.”

* * *

Even as Sasuke frantically donned his uniform, every cell in his brain screaming at him to hurry before things could get any worse, Kakashi Hatake was standing in the bridge, studying the various readouts against the fore wall of the chamber.

“Run preliminary checks. Our first approach drill is set for this evening, I want to make sure everything is in proper working order. Start with a Byakugan sweep.”

A scattered chorus of “Hai, Sir!” followed. Kakashi surveyed the bridge, sweeping his gaze back and forth across the handful of helm staff tapping away at their workstations. The bridge slowly grew noisier and noisier, as various pieces of instrumentation began chiming to report the results of their calibrations. 

Nodding to himself, Kakashi prepared to return to the safety of his office. Sasuke had reported to him the night before, and the news that Hinata was not only in Sector 6, but more than likely had been forced there by some militant group was disturbing to say the least. Combine that with the rumours that had been swirling around the ship, the whispers that Hinata Uzumaki was not actually in the Science Cell as they’d all been told, and it wasn’t hard to see that their covert investigation couldn’t last much longer. 

Turning away from the bustle of activity, Kakashi took two steps toward his office door before the main entrance to the bridge slid open. A voice rang out over the controlled chaos.

“Admiral Hatake!”

Kakashi stopped dead. That voice did not belong on this bridge. The silver-haired man turned his head slowly to see Asuma Sarutobi striding across the bridge toward him. One look at the man’s face immediately set Kakashi on his guard. Asuma’s expression was perfectly pleasant and measured, but he was failing miserably at hiding the overbearing glee he clearly felt at that moment. If that weren’t cause enough for concern, Kakashi looked over his shoulder to see that he’d brought along Inoichi, Fugaku, and Shikamaru. 

The rest of the command team, with the exception of Sasuke.

Kakashi’s stomach dropped. Too late, he realized exactly why Asuma was here. And there was absolutely nothing he could do to stop it.

“Alright, Mr. Sarutobi, I understand that you have something of dire importance you’d like to discuss, but I don’t really see what could be so pressing that you’d interrupt the Commanding Officer in the middle of his duties.” Commander Fugaku Uchiha expressed his displeasure. Behind him, Inoichi’s face was mostly neutral with just a hint of disapproval, and Shikamaru simply looked concerned.

“Commander Uchiha, I absolutely agree. Under any other circumstances, I would of course have waited for a more opportune moment. However, this is a matter of grave importance.” Turning to face the three gathered Commanders, Asuma positioned himself as though delivering a grand address, his hands clasped behind his back. 

“Commanders of the _Konoha_ , if you’ve heard the chatter throughout the ship over the last few hours, you’ve no doubt caught wind of the fact that Lieutenant Hinata Uzumaki is not, in fact, where we were all told she is- in fact, the poor Mrs. Uzumaki seems to have disappeared without a trace. And the Commanding Officer of this great station is not only aware of this fact, but he is directly responsible for the misleading information regarding Lieutenant Uzumaki’s whereabouts. He acted in direct defiance of ship’s protocol and conspired to deceive everyone on-board, including the three of you, for his own nebulous purposes. It is therefore, with an _extraordinarily_ heavy heart that I must recommend an emergency move to remove command of the _Konoha_ from Admiral Kakashi, as his negligence and deceitfulness are in direct opposition to his duties to this station.”

Shikamaru’s jaw dropped. Fugaku and Inoichi both looked past Asuma at Kakashi, stunned. 

“Sir… Are these accusations true?” Fugaku sounded as though he could hardly believe the words he was asking.

Kakashi felt light-headed. The web of lies and deceptions they’d spun had grown and grown until he’d finally managed to accidentally blunder back in and choke himself with it. In one fell stroke, all of the secrecy that he and Sasuke had worked to maintain had collapsed.

He took a deep breath. There was no sense denying it… not anymore. “Yes, it’s true. Petty Officer Naruto Uzumaki came to me to report his wife missing six days ago, and I acted foolishly. I intended not to cause a panic with the news of the disappearance, and so I manufactured a cover story in order to investigate the situation covertly.”

The bridge had gone utterly quiet. The calibration tests had been completely forgotten as the helm crew sat at their workstations in various degrees of stupor. Fugaku’s face was a mask of astonishment, and even Inoichi looked as shocked as Kakashi had ever seen him. The pain Kakashi felt at their expressions- at seeing the faces of these men who had trusted him, who had served him faithfully for so long- felt like a steel spike being driven into his chest.

“Gentlemen, I think it goes without saying that, until Lieutenant Uzumaki is found and a proper investigation into his motives can begin, Admiral Hatake is in no fit mental state to command this station. I move that an executive vote of Konoha command be carried out.” Asuma’s voice was practically shaking in delight, and Kakashi felt a red-hot river of anger punctuate the dull haze that had settled on him. 

_Why wouldn’t he be happy? He’s finally getting everything he’s ever wanted._

Fugaku leaned over and muttered something to Inoichi, who nodded. The Uchiha patriarch motioned toward Kakashi’s office, and the five men piled into it, the door sliding shut behind them. Kakashi sat on a chair on one side of the room, the three Commanders on the other. Asuma immediately settled into the large command chair behind Kakashi’s desk, but a glare from Inoichi quickly caused him to rethink his position, and he sat a few chairs away from Kakashi.

“Very well, Mr. Sarutobi. Given the actions of Admiral Hatake, the command team of the Konoha find him unfit for his duties at this time, and until such a time as he may be declared fit to command once again, naval control of the Konohagakure will be ceded from him.” Inoichi’s voice rang out in the small chamber. “Those in favor, declare so at this time.”

Inoichi raised his hand. Fugaku looked at Kakashi for a very long time before silently joining him. Once the other two had voted, Shikamaru followed suit.

“The vote is passed. Admiral Hatake, as Second Consul of the Konoha, I hereby absolve you of your duties indefinitely.” Fugaku tapped a few keys on Kakashi’s data terminal at his desk. “Command of the _Konoha_ now passes to the Chief Consul, Captain Sasuke Uchiha.”

His words pierced the fog shrouding Kakashi’s brain.

_Sasuke. Sasuke!_

Beside him, Asuma frowned and rose from his seat.

“Hold on- Uchiha? For all we know, he was in on this too! That’s no better!” Seeing the look on Fugaku’s face at his words, the younger man hastily changed his tone. “I only mean, if Admiral Hatake was orchestrating some grand cover-up of what happened a week ago, I find it _incredibly_ unlikely that he would have said nothing to his Chief Consul.”

The three Commanders considered his words for several seconds, before Shikamaru leaned forward and locked eyes with Kakashi. “He’s been up-front and honest with us so far. He readily admitted what he’d done, there’s no reason to suspect that he’ll lie now.

“Admiral Hatake, was Captain Uchiha involved in this betrayal?”

A tiny ray of hope lit the darkness in Kakashi’s mind. This wasn’t over yet.

“Captain Uchiha had nothing to do with it, Commander. Petty Officer Uzumaki and I were the only ones who knew the truth.”

Shikamaru turned to Inoichi, and with a thrill of fear Kakashi realized that the blonde Yamanaka had been studying his face the entire time. For a handful of seconds, Kakashi held his breath. He’d never managed to slip a lie past Inoichi, not once. This would have to be the time.

Then the older man nodded. Satisfied, Shikamaru turned back to face the CO.

“Very well. By executive vote, command of the Konoha passes to Captain Uchiha, until such a time as Admiral Hatake may be reassessed for fitness to command, at which point he will either be returned to his post, or a suitable permanent replacement will be elected.

“Sir, I respectfully request that you relinquish your sidearm and security pass, and leave the bridge.”

Despite the small victory he’d won in keeping Sasuke in charge, Kakashi’s entire body felt hollow. For all that he complained about the workload, and despite the appearance of apathy he may have projected to those working beneath him, the Konoha was his life. He had sworn an oath to serve it to the very apex of his ability. 

And he’d failed.

Placing his pistol and key card on the (not my) desk, Kakashi stood and swept from the room without another word. As he walked, he barely caught the sound of Asuma’s annoyed voice before the door slid shut behind him. 

The crew of the bridge stared at him. He couldn’t bear to look any of them in the eye.

Hurrying out the bridge’s main access door, he reached into the pocket of his tunic, searching frantically for his datapad. As he did so, his fingers brushed against his Commanding Officer’s insignia, and he had to fight a sudden, maddening urge to remove it and launch it against the wall.

Yanking his datapad out of his pocket, he keyed for direct communication to Sasuke Uchiha.

* * *

Sasuke was rushing down a corridor toward the bridge when his datapad began to chime. Reaching into his pocket, he saw the name of the incoming communication and skidded to a halt, pressing the “Accept Communication” with such force that he nearly punched a hold in the delicate screen.

“Sir! I’m on my way to-”

“Sasuke, never mind that now. We don’t have time. Asuma has had me removed from command, because I covered up Hinata’s disappearance.” Kakashi’s voice was horribly defeated, but there was an urgency in his words all the same. Sasuke stared at the screen, his eyes wide.

“The Commanders have voted on it, it’s a done deal. There’s nothing to be done about it. There’ll be a full investigation into Hinata’s disappearance now, and even though you know how I feel about a lot of the guys in the Investigative Cell, eventually they’ll find the link between her and Sector 6. And if that crew you were talking to today catches wind of something like that bearing down on them…” His sentence hung in the air, unfinished. There was no need to spell out the rest of the thought.

Sasuke leaned against the bulkhead of the corridor beside him. His head was spinning. “We need to find out where they have Hinata, and we need to find her now. I have a new lead, I’ll follow it up straight away”

“You’ll do nothing. You’re now the Commanding Officer of the Konoha. You’ll need someone you trust, someone who won’t tell a soul. 

“Sasuke, time is up.”

The communication ended abruptly. Sasuke’s breath was coming in short gasps; he felt like he’d run the length of the ship. Pounding his fist against the wall of the corridor, he screamed in frustration. 

Then he reopened his datapad, and tapped to open the direct communication link.

For a few seconds, there was no response. Then, mercifully, the line connected.

“Sakura, listen to me, very carefully. I’m going to ask you to do something that’s going to sound absurd, and I promise you I will explain why I’m doing this, but for now I need you to just listen, and trust me. 

“I need you to steal some files from the Records Cell.”


	7. The Bonds We Share

The sound of a call chime from his front door broke Kakashi’s stupor, dragging him back to the world of the living. Briefly, he considered just ignoring whoever was out there, and hoping that they’d lose interest and leave him in peace. Unfortunately, whoever it was would have no reason to think he wasn’t home, and if anyone was even bothering to come see him they weren’t likely to just give up. His unused joints popped in protest as he rose from his sofa with a groan and headed to the door.

It’d been three days since Asuma Sarutobi had made his way to the bridge of the  _ Konoha  _ and made the announcement that would change everything. Since that fateful morning, Kakashi had returned to his quarters and not left. It was early evening, but he scarcely noticed; All of his windowscreens had been dimmed for days, cloaking the entire suite with a melancholy orange light. Though his quarters were still fairly neat and tidy, small signs of non-maintenance were beginning to pile up; a discarded pile of papers left in a corner of the living room, a dirty dish towel forgotten to soak forlornly in the kitchen sink, and more.

Kakashi himself had been floating through life in a daze, since being relieved of command. There were deep shadows under his eyes, and he could feel a scruff of a beard beginning to push at his mask, making him itch. He hadn’t even made his way to his bedchamber to sleep the last few nights, instead simply passing out on the living room couch when his body simply couldn’t stay awake any longer.

Every day, he fought the yawning blackness that threatened to consume him; and every day, he fought with a bit less conviction than he had the day before.

In spite of his half-hearted complaints about the rigors of command, and the generally apathetic persona he tended to display to the public of the  _ Konoha,  _ serving the people of the station had been his life. No matter how much he blustered about not wanting to be a “prodigy”, there was no denying that this life was what he was meant to do, and he was damn good at it.

In one fell swoop, Sarutobi had taken that from him- but he wasn’t really to blame, at the end of the day. Kakashi had made this bed for himself, and now he was finally being forced to sleep in it. He’d been stupid and prideful, thinking that he could resolve the matter of Hinata’s disappearance without needing his most trusted commanders to know. Even as the investigation had progressed, and it became more clear that the situation was more dire than anyone had possibly imagined when Naruto had first barged into his office, he’d stubbornly clung to his plan, so certain that his trust in Sasuke had been properly placed.

He’d gambled everything on his plan, his so-called “brilliance”. And he’d lost the bet.

Slowly working a kink out of his neck as he stepped into the kitchen, he paused in the act of reaching for the door catch and looked around. All of the small reminders of his inertness over the last few days seemed to glow with harsh, accusatory red light, but he couldn’t bring himself to even make a cursory attempt to hide them. Instead, he pressed the slowly flashing button next to the door.

“Good afternoon, honey. I wasn’t even expecting you to answer, if I’m being totally honest.”

Kakashi blinked. The list of people he’d expected to actually come out of their way to seek him out had been short to begin with, and he hadn’t even thought to place Anko on it. And yet, here she was, standing in his doorway.

Her purple hair was loose from its usual carefully styled top-knot, instead being pulled messily into a ponytail at the base of her neck. Her pale brown eyes, usually sparkling with mirth, were unusually somber as she gestured with her head over his shoulder, into the apartment. Her mouth curved into a half-smile.

“It’s a bit rude to let someone just linger in the hallway. Are you going to invite me in?”

Kakashi opened his mouth to refuse, ready to explain that his quarters were unsightly, and he personally was not in the proper state of mind for company of any kind. But his excuses died in the back of his throat. Anything he tried to say to talk his way out of it, Anko would see straight through. 

And besides… He’d be lying to himself if he said that some actual human contact wouldn’t feel a bit nice right now.

Closing his mouth and licking his dry lips, he nodded and stepped to one side, allowing her to enter. Her perceptive eyes flicked around the kitchen, noting the various signs of disarray, but she said nothing as her thoughtful gaze took everything in. Instead, she simply breezed through the small space to come to a seat on his couch. Numbly, he followed, allowing himself to be led to his living room like a toddler.

Once they’d both sat down, there was silence. Kakashi hadn’t uttered a word in days, and it practically felt like he’d forgotten how. Meanwhile, Anko simply studied him, her eyes betraying a hint of tired sadness, and it was all he could do to not grab her by the shoulders and scream, to stop her looking at him like some destitute antique, like one of her damned experiments that had failed testing.

Finally, blissfully, his visitor broke the silence. “It’s all over the ship, you know. Once the cat was out of the bag, Naruto requested an audience with the command team to explain everything. How he’d come to you the day he found out that she was missing, how the two of you had formed a plan to try to find her. He’s fiercely loyal to you, you know.” She sighed. “Captain Uchiha ordered him off-duty, to allow him time to emotionally process the stress of what was happening. Luckily he wasn’t interested in laying blame.”

Throughout her entire explanation, Kakashi felt the tiniest spark of hope ignite in his belly, pushing against the darkness. Either Sasuke had got to Naruto before anything official had occurred, or Naruto had had the sense to conceal Sasuke’s involvement in the entire plot. Either way, it meant that Asuma’s plot hadn’t succeeded entirely, and Sasuke was still staying several steps ahead of whatever investigation would be carried out into Hinata’s whereabouts. 

_ It’s probably for the best, anyway. Sasuke is going to be better at this job than I ever could have hoped to be. _

That spark of hope wouldn’t lift him out of the pit he found himself in, but having a tiny source of light would at least make things a bit more bearable.

Swallowing thickly, Kakashi fixed Anko with as light an expression as he could possibly muster. “Thank you for coming to tell me. Is that why you’re here?” His voice cracked with disuse as he spoke, and he had to physically stop speaking halfway through his thought, moistening his lips and swallowing a second time.

Then, to his utter surprise, Anko let out a bark of laughter at his question. The sound was so unexpected, so loud in the dead quiet of his empty suite, that he jumped slightly in spite of himself.

“No, you idiot… I came to  _ see you,  _ to make sure you’re okay. No one has heard a word from you for days, you ignore every communication that’s sent to you. Everyone is worried sick: Inoichi, Might, even old Fugaku can’t totally hide his anxiety. I’m- we’re all worried about you.” Even in his current state, Kakashi caught the way her tone changed ever so slightly during the last few words.

Anko’s half-smile fell from her face as she fell silent again, as though expecting a response. Once it became clear she wasn’t getting one, she sighed deeply.

“There’s no beating around the bush with you, is there? Kakashi… why do you find it so impossible, so difficult to accept, that someone could possibly care about you? Could possibly… have feelings for you?”

There it was. For years, the issue had been hanging between them like a shared heart, always shrouded by the veil of Anko’s humorous and inappropriate advances, and his own awkward dodges of the same. 

But now it was finally out in the open. No theatrics, no innuendo. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

Kakashi let her words sink in, for what felt like a very long time. 

Could he tell her the truth? Could he finally loosen the grip he’d held on his heart like a vice, clutching it deep within himself, never to be seen? Just once, could he let someone in?

The deposed Commanding Officer of the  _ Konoha  _ drew a deep, ragged breath. 

“Because of my father.”

Anko’s brows knitted together in confusion, but she said nothing, just looked at him expectantly. Dragging himself forward, every word feeling like it was being passed through a stone crusher, Kakashi finally let his walls break.

“My father was an honorable man, and a kind man. The type of man who put duty before anything else, but would still give the shirt off his back to anyone who needed it. When I was growing up, he was the kind of man that I knew I wanted to be.

“When he first met my mother- I mean, I can’t say for certain, but I imagine it had to be love at first sight. It had to be, for someone as pragmatic and measured as Sakumo Hatake to court a woman so deeply, and so quickly. As near as I can tell, they were hardly together a ship’s year before my father announced that they were expecting their first child.

“I was a difficult birth, from what the medical records say. But throughout it all, through the long hours of labor, my father never left my mother’s side. He was with her the entire time. 

“We were the picture of a model family: A highly-placed, well-respected naval officer, his fiercely intelligent and independent wife, and their beautiful infant son. Practically something out of a novel.

“Then it all disappeared.  Just over a year after I was born, my mother vanished. I don’t even remember what she looked like, and I’ve never seen a picture, because my father never kept any in our quarters. Once I finally grew up enough to understand the absence, and to wonder what had happened, I tried to ask my father.

“He tried to put up a strong front, telling me that my mother had simply ‘Had a change of heart’, that it was a terribly sad event, but something we should put behind us. Even back then, at seven years old, I don’t think I really believed him. How could a mother just change her mind about her son? I thought. 

“I’ll never forget the look in his eyes when I asked him- I’ll never forget that I was capable of putting such a strong man through such intense pain. Even though I know it’s not true, there’s always been that tiny voice in my head, whispering that if I had never asked, if I had never forced him to relieve the pain of whatever had happened, that things would have played out differently. 

“We lived alone, just the two of us, for seven more years. Father never showed an interest in another woman, began distancing himself from his old friends. He spent longer at work, coming home to me later every day. 

“Then, when I was fourteen, I came home from school to find him lying in his bathtub, motionless. He didn’t respond to me shaking him, saying his name, screaming at him to get up. The toxicology report showed an unknown narcotic in his bloodstream, several times the dosage of even the strongest opioid used by the medical cell.

“There was a note on the floor next to him. I never told the investigators that there was a note, never shared its contents with a soul. As soon as I’d read it, I burned it immediately. Every word is etched into my brain.

“In the note, he told me that not long after I’d been born, my mother had flown into a rage at him. She said that she didn’t feel the love for him that he felt for her, claimed that the only reason she’d stayed with him at all was because a separation scandal from such a high-ranking officer would make her a pariah. She hadn’t wanted a child, he’d been so insistent that she’d been forced to go along.

“Finally, one day she’d had enough, and absconded to Sector 6. As far as I know, my father never went looking for her. Neither did I. If she didn’t want to be found, there was no point looking down there; if there’s one thing Sector 6 is good for, it’s losing people and things for good.”

The silence in the cabin had turned brittle and cold. Anko’s face was a mask of horrified confusion, faint traces of tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. Kakashi turned his dull black eyes to her face, staring directly into her own pale brown orbs.

“I spent the first fourteen years of my life trying to be my father. And my father lost everything, because he allowed himself to love when it wasn’t right. I swore to myself, that day, that I would never allow myself to stray down that path. I built myself walls, and promised on my father’s name that they would never come down.”

Anko swallowed, reaching up to pat the corners of her eyes dry. Tentatively, she reached out and touched his right shoulder.

“Kakashi… It looks to me like those walls are already gone.”

That was all it took. With a final, thundering crash, the last vestige of control he had crumbled, and he collapsed onto her shoulder. His breath came in shuddering gasps as he attempted, then failed, to hold back tears.

He sobbed and sobbed, until it felt as though every ounce of water in his body had drained, then mercifully passed out.

* * *

The first thing he was aware of when he woke was his coated tongue. The muscular organ felt thick and sticky in his mouth. Cracking open his eyes, he saw that he was lying down on his couch. A tan blanket had been pulled up over his legs, the edge resting just below his ribcage.

The events that had transpired before he lost consciousness rose to the surface of his mind. His breath hitched in his throat, but no tears came this time. His head pounded; proper hydration hadn’t been much of a priority over the last few days, and the way he’d lost control had apparently been the final straw.

Slowly pushing himself upward into a seated position, he became aware of the sound of activity from his left. Blinking blearily, he rose from the couch and headed toward the kitchen, rubbing the back of his sore head.

Anko was busily wiping down the inside of his kitchen sink. He let his gaze track over the room, stunned; it was spotless. 

“Anko…” he couldn’t manage any more than a whisper. She turned to look at him, and even though the sadness was clear in her eyes, she smiled.

“I’m just about finished up here. Go back and sit, I’ll be in shortly.” Kakashi felt his legs carry him back to the sofa, not truly processing what he was doing. Sitting down, he stared at the steel wall in front of him, his mouth hanging just barely open beneath his mask.

He’d told her. He’d opened the locked box he kept deep within himself, and let out his one devastating secret.

A rustling sound announced Anko’s return from the kitchen. Placing a steaming mug on the coffee table in front of him, she settled down on the couch cushion right next to his, stirring her own tea with a small steel stir stick. Looking down at the cup as though it was the first thing he was really processing as being real, he blinked several times before reaching out and cupping it with both hands.

“Thank you.”

Anko nodded, sipping from her own mug. With a satisfied nod, she cradled her tea in front of her chest. Kakashi reached for his mask, paused, then carelessly ripped it off to take a drink. Out of the corner of his vision, he saw Anko’s eyes widen fractionally, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. She’d seen beneath his most private mask, so keeping his face hidden suddenly felt silly.

“Kakashi.”

Her voice was soft, and achingly kind. Just the sound of it nearly broke him all over again.

“Look…” She set her mug down on the faux wood coffee table and took a deep breath. “I know you’re not looking for sympathy, but know that I am sorry for what happened to you. I am  _ so  _ sorry.” She reached out and grasped his left hand with her right. Kakashi’s muscles felt like rubber, and he made no move to stop her.

“Kakashi… I can’t claim to know your father, or your mother. But I know that you are  _ not  _ your father, and even if you were, I am not your mother. For years now, I’ve been chasing after you, and it’s not because I see you as a fling, or as some challenge for myself. I’ve been doing it because I love you.

“What happened between your parents was horrible, make no mistake. But you can’t let it stop you from ever loving someone.”

Kakashi turned his head and stared into Anko’s eyes. He suddenly felt very acutely aware that everything he was, his past, his future, balanced on this moment.

He spoke, and the last piece of the puzzle that was Kakashi Hatake clicked into place.

“What if I’m not my father… What if I’m my mother?”

Without a word, Anko grabbed him with both arms and pulled him into a hug. There were tears flowing down her face now, but she made no effort to hide them or wipe them away.

She gripped him tightly for several seconds before pulling back and looking directly into his eyes. One hand traced his uncovered chin, her eyes shining with tears.

“We can’t know what the future will bring. Maybe we aren’t meant to be, maybe you won’t feel the same way about me that I do about you. And if that’s the case, we go our separate ways, and maybe we’re able to stay friends, maybe we aren’t. All love is a risk, Kakashi.

“But don’t we owe it to ourselves to try?”

Kakahi stared into those dull brown eyes, feeling a dull wonder seeping into his mind. This woman had come to him, found him at his very lowest. She’d heard the worst that he had to offer, had understood his fears, and was still willing to love him.

All at once, a flame roared to life in his core, lighting the darkness in his soul, banishing it. He smashed his lips into Anko’s, and she parted them ever so slightly to allow him in. 

* * *

Naruto sat at his kitchen table, his hands folded in front of him. Across the table sat Hiwamari, her short purple hair expertly pulled into its usual modest updo. Neither of them spoke, as Naruto occasionally glanced at the suite door. Finally, Hiwamari sighed.

“Dad… I don’t think he’s coming.”

Naruto closed his eyes and felt his head slump forward.

“I… I know. I just hoped that he would give me a chance to explain myself.”

“Dad, he’s hurting, and I don’t blame him. You know how much like you he is. It’s going to take him a lot longer to find it in him to be forgiving.”

Naruto sighed.

“Well, what about you? Are you ready to hear what I have to say?”

For a moment, Hiwamari was silent. Her blue eyes stared at the tabletop for a few seconds, and Naruto could almost see her thoughts flashing behind them.

“You lied to both of us, about the most important person in the three of our lives. That’s not going to go away any time soon… But I know that however misguided your motivations might have been, you were only trying to protect the two of us from the truth. You’ve got a big heart, dad, and sometimes it’s too big for your own good, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. So yes, I’m ready to listen.”

Naruto’s shoulders sagged in relief, and he felt tears welling up in the corners of his eyes.

_ What did I do to deserve kids like this? _

The blonde man took a deep breath, opened his mouth-

Then the front door chimed.

Father and daughter both looked at the door, their faces perfectly matched expressions of annoyance. Then they saw each other’s faces out of the corners of their eyes, and neither could help the laughter that ensued, in spite of everything else. Hiwamari might take after her mother, but there was no denying the fact that she was still very much Naruto’s daughter.

“Sorry, honey… I’ll keep it short, and get rid of whoever it is quickly.” Rising from his seat, Naruto keyed the door open, and was mildly surprised to see Kiba Inuzuka standing on the other side.

“Kiba? Umm… What brings you here?”

The brunette flashed his wide smile, then rearranged his face into a slightly more neutral expression. “Well Naruto, to be honest, we’ve been missing you a lot at the office… I just wanted to drop by and see how things were doing, make sure you were okay.”

Naruto felt a lump catch in his throat. Looking down, he saw that the other man held a small Spheres set in his hands, and the lump doubled in size.

Swallowing thickly, he wiped his lips with the back of his hands. “Kiba… I mean, I don’t know what to say…”

His coworker reached out his fist and rapped him lightly on the upper arm. “Well, ‘Come on in!’ would definitely be a start!”

Naruto looked back into the room, shooting an uncertain glance at his daughter. A small frown creased her face, and his resolve hardened. 

“Kiba, I’ll tell you what… Come on in, make yourself at home in the living room. Hiwamari and I just have to go to my bedchamber and talk in private, but I’ll gladly kick your ass once we’re finished, how does that sound?” He shot a wink at his daughter, and was gratified to see her frown melt into a smile, her blue eyes flashing with gratitude.

“Oh yeah, sure thing, I understand- you guys both do whatever you need to do, I’m in no rush.” Kiba waved a hand as he strolled into the suite, immediately making tracks for Naruto’s comfortable recliner. Naruto rolled his eyes and chuckled before turning back to Hiwamari.

“Well… shall we?”

* * *

Nearly an hour later, Naruto and Kiba were seated on either side of the living room table, a game of Spheres laid out between them. Kiba was frowning in concentration, studying the small holographic orbs with the kind of intensity usually reserved for lion tamers and explosive disposal experts. Naruto turned to Hiwamari, who was seated on the couch beside him, and flashed her a thumbs-up. She offered him a small smile in return. Their talk hadn’t erased everything that had happened- Naruto knew that he had much more work to do before that trust returned.

But it had been a start.

“How do you always do this? I don’t understand it!” Kiba’s outburst pulled him out of his melancholic thoughts.

Naruto chuckled. “Is that another forfeit I hear screaming through space toward us?”

Kiba grumbled something incoherent to himself before reaching out and pushing one of his spheres forward three spaces. His eyes narrowed, and he snuck a snide glance across the room at Hiwamari.

“So, Hiwamari, how have things been at the Academy? How are things with that guy I saw you taking a stroll with through Sector 5 the other day?”

Hiwamari’s eyes widened at his words. Naruto’s hand, which had been halfway through moving a sphere to the upper tier of the board, froze, before he turned to his daughter, his game piece forgotten halfway through his move. A wicked grin flashed across Kiba’s face as he moved one of his spheres to capture his opponent’s suddenly abandoned piece.

“That  _ guy _ ?”

Hiwamari anxiously wiped her mouth with her hand. “I mean… I was going to mention it! I was just, y’know, looking for the right time…”

Naruto’s incredulous look intensified. “Who is this guy? Do I know him? Who do I have to hunt down?”

“Dad! It’s nothing like that, we’re just talking! I just, um…” Hiwamari inhaled deeply, bracing herself: “He invited me for our first date tomorrow night, actually.”

Kiba roared with laughter at Naruto’s face, which had turned brick red. For a few moments, he struggled to speak through the parade of words that all rushed to his mouth and tried to fight each other to escape. The game of Spheres completely forgotten, he reached out a hand and aimlessly swiped one of his small orbs across the holographic space. Kiba pounced on the abandoned piece, then, sensing that he had caused enough distraction to secure victory, hastily moved to begin damage control.

“Oh, Naruto, did I tell you the latest from the Science division about Site III?”

Naruto stopped sputtering indignantly and his face began to even out in colour, but the look he shot at Hiwamari before he turned to his friend clearly indicated that this conversation was far from over. Hiwamari, blushing even redder than Naruto had been, hastily excused herself to the kitchen.

“When Shino came home yesterday, he told me that they’ve been running final approach checks, now that we’re close enough for detailed atmosphere and terrain analysis. The latest readings put habitation possibility at 97.6%!”

Naruto raised his eyebrows and nodded approvingly. “That’s excellent! We might be about to find a home!”

Kiba grinned. “Yeah, Sci-ops is working day and night to make sure everything is just right. Shino’s exhausted when he gets home, but this is about as animated as I’ve ever seen him. You know how he is, when he’s got a real project to sink his teeth into he’s happy.”

Naruto smiled and nodded. As he did, he casually reached out a hand, grasped one of the tiny green orbs between his index and middle finger, and casually slid it forward. “And, I believe that’s game.”

Kiba’s eyes bulged out of his head. “I- what- how did-”

Naruto’s face lit up in his trademark toothy grin. “One more?”

* * *

Several levels above, in the open park at the center of Sector 5, Boruto and Sarada were sharing a bench. The artificial sun beamed down from the videoscreen roof, bringing with it the vision of a pleasant spring day, but Boruto couldn’t bring himself to enjoy it.

Sarada placed her hand on his shoulder. Her other hand fiddled absent-mindedly with the silver necklace her father had given her a few days prior. “Boruto… Are you sure you aren’t going to go talk to him?”

The young blonde man sighed deeply and placed his face in his hands. “I just… I don’t think I can. He  _ lied  _ to me, Sarada. He knew Mom was missing, that she might be in trouble, and he didn’t even think Hiwamari and I were worth telling.” He turned to look into her eyes, and Sarada’s heart broke at the anguish swimming in those pools of blue.

She nodded once, reaching down to intertwine her fingers with his. “I understand. I know how much your mum means to you… I’m sure if my dad lied to me about something like this, I wouldn’t know what to think.”

Boruto leaned over and rested his head on her shoulder. For a moment, they sat in silence, watching the occasional passerby ambling through the park. A small group of young children ran past, shouting excitedly and chasing each other back and forth.

“Sarada… Thank you, for being here for me. And thank you for talking to your dad about Mom. I really don’t know what I would do without you.

Boruto suddenly became aware that Sarada was staring at him intently. There was something stirring in her black eyes… something he couldn’t readily identify. He opened his mouth to ask, and suddenly her lips had crashed clumsily into his.

His eyes widened slightly, then closed. Sarada leaned in closer, deepening the kiss-

Then Boruto pulled back, breathing heavily. Sarada froze, every nerve in her body suddenly feeling like she’d been thrown headfirst into a vat of ice water.

“Fuck, Boruto, I don't know why I did that! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-

“No, Sarada… Don’t apologize. I…” Boruto swallowed with difficulty. “It’s not… Look, I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy it, or even that I didn’t want it. I just… I don’t think I’m ready for- that- right now. Not with everything else going on.” His eyes were sad, but the corner of his mouth turned up into a slight smirk. “But, y’know… Don’t wait too long before you try again, alright?”

Sarada returned his smile, taking one of his hands in both of hers. As they both turned to look back out across the park, Boruto shuffled his weight on the bench, moving himself closer to her, returning his head to Sarada’s shoulder.

They stayed that way for hours, idly watching the goings-on of the park. And little by little, Boruto felt his mood lightening.

* * *

Anko rolled off Kakashi’s body and laid on the bed next to him, letting out a deep, contented groan. Kakashi himself was lying limp against the sheets, panting, a thin sheen of sweat shining in the dim light of the bedchamber. For a moment, he just allowed himself to enjoy the feeling, lazily reaching out to stoke Anko’s exposed stomach, a happy purr escaping from her lips. Then, he lifted himself up on one elbow and turned to face his lover.

“Listen, Anko, I-” She reached out and pressed two fingers against his lips. 

“Shh, no talking now.”

Kakashi gently took hold of her wrist and moved her fingers away. “I know, but I need to tell you something. If we’re going to be… If this is going to work, I need to be completely honest with you.” Anko levered herself up on her own elbows raising one eyebrow questioningly at his words.

“I need you to swear to me, that this stays between us. At least for now.”

Anko nodded, a brief flicker of caution passing across her face, but it was quickly wiped away and replaced with resolve. Emboldened, Kakashi sat up in the bed.

“Sasuke Uchiha was involved in my plan, to find Hinata. Naruto hasn’t told anyone, and it needs to stay that way. Sasuke is the  _ Konoha’s  _ only chance, and right now, he’s Hinata’s only chance too.”

Anko breathed in sharply. “So that day you came to see me-”

“Sasuke had already started trying to track down Hinata. He was in the Records Cell, trying to follow the trail of what she’d been looking for. Eventually, he tracked her to Sector 6, but the lead bottomed out at a group of maintenance crew led by a man named Nagato. Now, with everything going on-” He stopped, noticing Anko’s face change at the mention of Nagato’s name. “What is it? You know him?”

Anko pursed her lips, her eyes misting over slightly in thoughtfulness. “Something about that name… it’s tugging at the corner of my mind. I’m almost certain I don’t know who he is, but the name is familiar for some reason. Maybe something in the Science Cell…”

For a few moments, Anko appeared lost in thought. Then she shook her head and returned to the present, smiling and leaning over to rest her head on Kakashi’s chest. 

“When I go in to work tomorrow, I’ll check for you. I know I’ve seen that name before, maybe I can help. Any information we can find is good information, at this point.”

Kakashi beamed at her. He hardly dared to believe how drastically his outlook had changed since the morning; suddenly, the path ahead was not only clear, it was bright and sunny. Even if he never resumed command, even if his naval career was over… for the first time in over sixty years, he had someone to share his life with. He mattered to someone, and just maybe, that would be enough.

Reaching under the sheet toward Anko’s legs, he let one of his fingers slowly trace its way down her thigh, looking cheekily up into her brown eyes. “Tomorrow is a long way away… What shall we do in the meantime?”

Anko’s eyes took on a hint of the predatory gleam that he’d seen so many times, usually before he became the butt of one of her joking advances. However, this time there was no joke inbound, and the look sent a thrill coursing through his body.

“I’m sure we can come up with something…”


	8. Welcome Home

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is what it’s all come down to… Prepare to enter Site III approach vector.”

The atmosphere in the bridge was alive with excitement, the very air charged with an electricity unlike anything that Sasuke had ever experienced. The usual handful of helm crew working on a given shift had swelled to nearly double its size, the room playing host to a dozen crew members from other shifts who had volunteered their time to provide support and act as backup operators in case of emergency. No one wanted to miss out on the moment the  _ Konoha  _ caught its first real glimpse of the world that, according to every diagnostic the Science Cell had run, would soon be their new home.

Sasuke stood at the rear of the bridge, his hands clasped behind him at perfect parade’s rest, his deep blue tunic impeccably pressed. Some of the crew might raise an eyebrow at his formality, but he was a man of principles; no one could deny that what was about to happen was a monumental event, and such occasions should be given the gravity they deserve.

Neji Hyuuga was standing at his side, studying the barely-contained chaos as the helm crew moved to their stations and prepared for approach. Sasuke turned to him and noted the way his posture immediately stiffened to attention with approval.

“Lieutenant Hyuuga, the bridge is yours. Let’s make it as smooth as we can.”

Neji nodded sharply. “Hai, Sir.” Leaving the Captain’s side, the older man headed down the wide stairs at the rear of the room toward the main bridge space that housed the men and women of the helm crew. “Okay folks, we’ve done the drills forwards, backward, inside-out and upside-down… Let’s show the Captain that the practice has been worth the time. Time to go home.”

A short smattering of applause and a few cheers met his words, but the sound petered off almost immediately as the crew members of the bridge launched into their work. Neji began threading his way through the workstations, monitoring screens and giving the occasional directive over the hum of activity.

Sasuke turned and walked to join the three men who were standing against the rear wall of the bridge, observing the approach. Inoichi clapped a hand onto his shoulder.

“This is a moment no one in this room- and very few people  _ outside  _ this room as well, I’d wager- is likely to forget. Take it in.”

Sasuke nodded. Beside Inoichi, Fugaku Uchiha’s face was its usual perfect picture of stoic professionalism, but even he wasn’t able to completely prevent a faint glow of pride from softening his features. Beside him, the corners of Shikamaru’s mouth were turned up in a genuinely excited smile, his lazy attitude completely absent, for once.

Sasuke glanced across the bridge, his mouth curling ever so slightly in distaste. In the corner of the bridge, seated on a padded chair he’d borrowed from one of the command team offices, Asuma Sarutobi looked utterly absorbed by the proceedings going on in front of him. Sasuke was too perceptive to be fooled by that, however; several times he’d caught glimpses in his periphery of Asuma shooting him a sour look, his eyes flashing with frustration. It didn’t take a genius to see why the Sarutobi heir held Sasuke in such contempt.

_ Thank the Mother for Naruto’s discretion. There’s a sentence I never thought I’d hear myself think.  _ But, joke as he might, it was completely true- Naruto’s quick thinking to omit Sasuke’s role in the ill-fated Hinata investigation had kept the Uchiha heir’s record clean, and had prevented Sarutobi from leveraging Kakashi’s deceit into a full-fledged campaign to wrestle control of the ship.

So now, every day since Kakashi had been removed from command, the man who did everything he could to ruin his career skulked about the bridge of the  _ Konoha  _ like vulture, searching desperately for any and all opportunities to insert himself into the vital operations of the station. Sasuke had been doing everything he could to ensure that those opportunities were few and far between.

A chime from his pocket announced that his datapad had received a communication. Excusing himself, Sasuke strode a few metres away from his conversing command team to read what Kakashi had to say.

_ //ENCRYPTED MESSAGE FOLLOWS: CLEARANCE LEVEL ALPHA// _

_ Sasuke, I hope the approach is going well. Be sure to send updates along.  _

_ Lieutenant Mitarashi just contacted me from Sci-Ops.  _ (Sasuke smirked slightly at this; Kakashi had been characteristically tight-lipped about why he was suddenly seeing so much of Anko Mitarashi, and Sasuke hadn’t pressed the matter out of respect. But he was happy for the man, make no mistake.) _ Apparently, several years ago, Nagato was logged several times as being brought to the Science Cell, but no logs were kept of his business there. He’d been called every time under the express request of Orochimaru Hebi. _

Sasuke paused at the last sentence, thoughts whirling through his head. Orochimaru Hebi had been the Prelate of Science years ago, and one of Tsunade Senju’s and Jiraiya Hikigaeru’s closest friends. He’d been something of a recluse, by all accounts, and for much of his career had seemed perfectly content with his position as the head of the Science Cell, rather than reaching for the heights of command like his peers had. 

Unfortunately, Orochimaru’s reasons for doing so had come to light in a rather disturbing fashion, as an investigation into several allegations of misconduct revealed that he had been involved in several bouts of extremely unethical human experimentation. A naval trial had swiftly followed, and he had been hastily discharged from naval service, pending more severe consequences. When Enforcement Cell personnel had arrived at his quarters to escort him to further judicial proceedings, they’d been shocked to discover the remains of a severe fire within. Orochimaru’s body had been burned nearly beyond recognition, with only traces of his DNA being recoverable enough for positive identification.

Tsunade and Jiraiya had never quite been the same following the incident, and Orochimaru’s name had become a stain on the history of the  _ Konoha. _

_ What business would someone like Nagato have had with Orochimaru? I wouldn’t assume his ventures would stretch outside of Sector 6. That being said, maybe I have it backward… Maybe Orochimaru wanted something from him. Knowing what we do now, it certainly isn’t out of the realm of possibility. _

Sasuke returned to Kakashi’s message.

_ I don’t know whether there’s anything to be found there or not, but as long as you’ve got Sakura looking through Sector 6 crew logs to dig up dirt on Nagato’s gang, it might be worth seeing if the Orochimaru connection leads anywhere. _

_ Kakashi _

_ //END ENCRYPTED MESSAGE// _

Sasuke looked around the bridge, satisfied himself that no one would miss him for the next several minutes, and retreated into his office. Accessing his datapad’s live comms, he keyed for connection to Sakura.

“Sasuke?”

“Hello, my love. How goes the search?”

Sasuke caught the sound of his wife snorting derisively. “I have no idea how you managed to do this for so long. I’ve double- and triple- checked every member of Nagato’s crew, all of their work history, every single thing I can find, and they’re about as clean as you can get in Sector 6. I think this might be a dead end, sorry to say.”

“Maybe... “ Sasuke replayed the information that Kakashi had just sent him.

“Orochimaru?” Sasuke could hear a combination of skepticism and outright apprehension in Sakura’s voice, even through the slightly tinny compression of the datapad. “I suppose I could look, but I don’t know, Sasuke… That seems like a bit of a stretch to take.”

“I know it does, believe me, but we can’t afford to ignore any possibilities, even if they seem insane. The Investigative Cell officially started their own inquiry yesterday, and the further ahead of them we can stay, the better.”

The silence from the other end of the line was deafening, and Sasuke immediately knew what was coming.

“Sasuke… I understand you’re worried about Hinata, and what would happen if Nagato does have her stashed away somewhere, and if he catches wind that Investigative is getting involved. But, this is literally what their entire department is meant to do… Wouldn’t it make more sense just to cooperate with them? The structure of the navy exists for a reason.”

Sasuke closed his eyes and rubbed his right temple with his hand. Everything Sakura was saying had been gnawing away at his conscience for days now. As soon as Kakashi had been indisposed, the covert aspect of their investigation had effectively been destroyed, whether Sasuke himself had been implicated or not. It was tempting to just take the easy way out, and step aside for Yamanaka and the rest of the Investigative Crew to do their jobs.

But every time he considered it, he remembered Kakashi’s words about what might happen if word of the investigation reached the wrong ears… And he remembered the look he’d seen in Nagato’s eyes, that day in Sector 6.

“Sakura, I understand your reservations. I don’t like this any more than you do, but Kakashi trusted me to keep this quiet, and no matter what else you can say about him, his instincts are some of the best I’ve ever seen. We just need to keep at it.”

A heavy sigh sounded through the datapad. “Alright, you win. I’ll keep looking.”

“Thank you, Sakura. I love you, and I’ll see you soon.”

“Goodbye, Sasuke. I love you too.”

The communication ended. Pocketing his datapad, Sasuke exited his office and rejoined the bridge crew.

Inoichi, Fugaku and Shikamaru had dispersed. Surveying the room, Sasuke saw that all three had walked down into the operations zone, leaning over various workstations and datascreens, monitoring the status of the approach. Notably, Sarutobi had disappeared from his place in the corner. Following the example of his commanders, Sasuke headed down the stairs toward the working bridge crew, reaching the terminal where his daughter sat in several long strides. 

Sarada looked up at his approach. “Hello, Sir- Our approach vector is holding steady, and sensors indicate that we’re staying clear of any space objects large enough to pose a danger to the station’s hull integrity.” Sarada’s black eyes were ablaze with excitement, and Sasuke felt a small, warm smile spread across his face at how animated she was. The silvery necklace Itachi had left for her was practically bouncing around her neck as she pointed from display to display. “The Byakugan is operating at full capacity, and I’ve run several checks along the blind spot to ensure nothing is left to chance. We had a minor blip on one of the scopes along the aft axis, but nothing to worry about so far.

Sasuke placed a hand on his daughter’s shoulder and squeezed. Leaning forward until his mouth was directly next to her ear, he murmured “This is exciting, isn’t it Sarada?”

Sasuke felt her shoulder shake slightly under his touch as she nodded vigorously. “Dad, this is amazing! We’re about to be part of one of the most significant events in human history!” Sarada whispered excitedly.

Sasuke returned her nod with a smile. “Sounds like we’ll have plenty to talk about over dinner tonight- after we discuss what I’ve heard about you and a certain young man in Sector 5 the other day.”

Sarada froze, a pink tint spreading across her cheeks. She opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again, but before she could get a word out, her father winked briefly and straightened, walking away from her workstation. Sarada watched him go, bemused, before returning her attention to the display in front of her as best she could.

* * *

The difference in Kakashi’s suite was subtle, but to someone who’d seen it in days previous, who knew the right places to look, the change was staggering.

At first glance, it may have just looked like Kakashi had finally worked up the impetus to clean up. Every room of the suite had returned to its usual state of clean, minimalist, military perfection.

But careful observers would have started seeing other things: a second toothbrush balanced in the small steel cup perched on the edge of the bathroom sink, a pair of smaller naval uniform boots neatly aligned with Kakashi’s usual pair, a sheaf of notes written in small, cramped handwriting that contradicted the  _ Konoha  _ CO’s usual achingly neat script.

If the signs of disorder and neglect his suite had begun to accumulate in the throes of his depression had glowed like red warning lights, these small signs of another life beginning to creep into his space cast a soft, pleasant green glow over every room of the apartment. He could hardly believe the change that those little reminders had brought, not only to his home, but to him. 

Kakashi felt like a new man. For the first time in a very, very long time, he was living for someone beyond himself. He had someone to love, who loved him in return.

Anko wasn’t there now, of course; with the approach to Site III imminent, the Science Cell was working around the clock performing last-minute habitability checks and preparing for the onslaught of other tests that would be required after touchdown on the strange new world. But being able to feel her presence in the cabin all the same gave the entire place a warm, comforting aura.

Kakashi had been sitting on the couch for the last few hours, flipping through notes on his datapad. He’d been balancing his work between monitoring the state of the final approach through “status updates” being carefully fed to him via Sasuke, and attempting to do his best to assist Sakura in her clandestine inquiry into the whereabouts of Hinata Uzumaki. Sasuke’s wife had finally given up on investigating Nagato and his group, seeing nothing to link him to anything that would further their cause, and had returned to Sasuke’s original strategy of scouring blueprints and ship’s records of the  _ Konoha  _ in an attempt to locate where Sector 7 might be located, or if it even still existed. Kakashi, for his own part, had instead been exploring everything the ship’s records contained on connections between Nagato and Orochimaru Hebi, which it turns out wasn’t much.

Cracking his aching fingers and yawning, Kakashi slowly rose from his sofa, wincing as he felt his knees creak alarmingly. He wasn’t getting any younger, and he’d spent much of the last week either lying or sitting. He knew it was probably in his best interests to get out of his quarters, to stretch his legs and at least put in a cursory effort to rejoin society, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to do so yet.

As he idly scratched the back of his head and looked toward the kitchen, contemplating whether there was anything in his totally utilitarian cooking repertoire that he could have ready for Anko when she returned from work, his gaze slid across a small sliver of blue metal resting on the bookshelf in the corner of the living room, and he paused.

The datacard Tsunade had given him the day before she passed hadn’t moved from that spot since he’d brought it home, and the events of the last week had all but pushed its existence completely out of his mind.

For a handful of seconds, Kakashi stared at the tiny wafer of circuitry and plastic, contemplating. He’d been told to view it once they entered orbit around their destination, and obviously that hadn’t happened yet. Even the second half of the instruction Tsunade had given him was not guaranteed to be fulfilled; there was always the chance that Sci-Ops would discover something upon arrival that meant that everything changed, that the  _ Konoha  _ would be forced to pack their bags and depart for Site IV. A planet that there was every chance he would never see.

The two halves of Kakashi’s mind grappled with each other. His firm self-disciple urged him to leave the data where it rested until they knew for sure, to respect the direction that his former Commanding Officer had given him, that surely whatever information was stored in those memory boards could wait another few days until the planet truly became home. Meanwhile, his insatiable curiosity whispered that they were close enough, that the Science Cell had predicted habitability with 98.7% probability at last assessment, and what was the difference if he watched it now or watched it tomorrow?

In the end, his curiosity won out. Snatching the datacard off the shelf, Kakashi inserted it into his datapad, then keyed for the small handheld to broadcast its display to the entertainment screen set into the wall of the living room. Inhaling deeply, he settled back down onto his soft and tapped the icon on the screen to open the datacard.

_ “Begin recording.” _

As the gravelly voice spoke, a video file appeared on the screen on his wall, and Kakashi’s eyes widened at the sight of a dark-haired man seated at a desk. There was a window on the wall behind him- not a windowscreen, but a full-fledged  _ window,  _ showing the pale crimson of a pre-dusk sky. And yet, that revelation paled in comparison to the man seated in front of whatever video recorded had created the file. Despite having only seen that face depicted in historical records and holograms, it was a face that Kakashi- and every other human living aboard the  _ Konoha _ , for that matter- knew immediately. The swept-back brown hair shining with strands of grey, the deep age lines, the fierce, coal-black eyes.

The man in the video was Sasuke Sarutobi, the former patriarch of the Sarutobi family, and the father of the first Commanding Officer of the  _ Konoha,  _ Hiruzen. The entire  _ Konoha  _ mission had been his brainchild.

The sudden reveal of such a legendary figure sent a chill down Kakashi’s spine, and for the first time, every part of him doubted whether it was wise to open the datacard prematurely. If Sasuke Sarutobi was responsible for this file, whatever information it contained could only be of  _ monumental  _ importance.

Then the man opened his mouth to speak, and Kakashi dragged his attention back to the video to listen.

_ “Hello. My name is Sasuke Sarutobi, Chief Executive Officer of the Sarutobi Corporation and head of the Sarutobi clan. It is the 7th of January, 2071. We are three days away from the launch of the  _ Konoha,  _ from the beginning of our people’s most far-reaching exodus among the stars. _

_ “I’ve just finished speaking with Hiruzen and his wife. He’s the one who actually convinced me to record this message, of course… I told him that I would be more comfortable with him guarding this information, but he pointed out that the first likely habitation site was nearly 40 years away. If there was no hope to be found there, then whatever planet finally did show promise, Hiruzen would not live to see it. And besides, he also insisted that whoever commands the  _ Konoha  _ when it finds its final stopping point will want to hear it from me, and of course he’s right. This is my responsibility, and mine alone.” _

_ The figure in the video sighed and reached up to rub his eyes. He looked deathly tired, like he hadn’t slept in days. _

_ “And now that I’ve sat down in front of the damned recorder to do it, how do I begin…” _

_ Several seconds of silence passed before Sasuke looked back at the recorder, the tiredness in his eyes beginning to harden into resolve. _

_ “I suppose I’ll start with you. If you are watching this, you are the current Commanding Officer of the  _ Konoha  _ city-ship, and you’ve entered into a stable orbit around a planet that has been determined to be safe for your crew to disembark, to begin a new life for themselves on a strange new world, billions of miles from our home. You are the spearhead of a grand exploratory mission, an expedition to spread the influence of humanity to the farthest reaches of space and beyond. _

_ “This is the story you have been told. I am here today to reveal the truth. _

_ “It all began three years ago. Sarutobi Corps was at the very apex of extraplanetary operations, and our enterprises were growing by the day. Sending probes to the furthest reaches of the solar system, establishing our first research colonies on Venus and Mars, and the genesis of the idea that would eventually become the  _ Konoha  _ mission had already reached early planning stages. Our successes in so many avenues emboldened us to embark on our next great venture: to use the very sun itself, the source of all life on Earth, as a source of power, a way to extend our reach far beyond even the stars. _

_ “Was it hubris, to imagine that we could harness the energy of that which had guided all of our existence? Perhaps. But that is neither here nor there, for it turned out not to matter in the end. _

_ “Our initial assessments were simply to determine the viability of solar energy, to ascertain the sort of output we could expect. But all of our carefully laid plans came crashing down around us when the first diagnostics began to return. _

_ “The temperature at the surface of Sol I was dropping, at a rate that could only be considered alarming. Tests taken two decades earlier were compared to the readings we received, as if we were desperately hoping that we remembered wrong, that surely this couldn’t be what was truly going on. But the tests showed the truth: in less than 20 years, the star’s surface temperature had dropped by 4%. _

_ “Our sun was dying. Initial estimates put its lifespan at no longer than twenty years, but at the rate of heat loss... No one could be certain. All that we knew was that within two decades, the Earth would be a lifeless husk. _

_ “I won’t bore you with the bureaucratic details of what happened next. There were panicked communications among every major corporation and country on Earth. Mindless accusations were thrown around, deflected, and eventually left to wither and die when it became clear that blame was pointless and nonproductive. _

_ “Long story short, the  _ Konoha  _ was born: framed as a grand explorative experiment, a triumphant return to the stars for humankind. A cross-section of the very best of humanity, setting out toward the furthest reaches of the known universe, as far as we could go. _

_ “What no one but those directly attached to the planning of the project knew, however, was that this was no act of conquest, but an act of survival. A city-sized spacecraft that would be launched by a crew who would die aboard it, only so that they could sire the next generation, then the generation after, until eventually, Mother willing, their great-grandchildren or great-great-grandchildren would find a place where humanity could live on. _

_ “The rest of the world will find out eventually, of course. Whether we announce it to them, once the ship is safely away, or they find out themselves makes no difference. But that is our fight, not yours. _

_ “Admiral, this was never a mission of exploration. This is a mission of conservation. By the time you are watching this, our planet and everyone on it will be dead. Those you carry with you aboard the  _ Konoha  _ are the final remnants of our species. _

_ “I am truly sorry for the burden I give you in these words. What happens with these revelations now is your choice, as Commanding Officer. A responsibility that I would not wish upon my gravest foe, let alone the person who is now leading our people to the only chance of salvation they have, but a responsibility you must now shoulder nonetheless.  _

_ “Know that the prayers of 15 billion people go with you on your journey. May the Mother watch over you- may she watch over all of you. And may you have the strength to carry on after the things you have learned here today.  _

_ “End recording.” _

The very air in the suite had suddenly gone frigid. Kakashi felt his mouth go dry, heard the pounding of his heart behind his ears. His entire body felt numb and unresponsive, as if every single nerve had been disconnected from his brain.

His mind raced, thinking back to every time he, or Sasuke, or Neji had signed off from the bridge and sent their routine status updates to mission control. And every time, the same reply, calmly transmitted across the stars.

_ Message received. Well all. _

Hundreds of thousands, perhaps  _ millions _ of the same reply. Beamed across space to assure them that everything was going according to plan.

Hollow words, being sent from some self-maintaining fission-powered computer in some bunker on Earth, ticking away and repeating its message day by day, long after the species that had built it had frozen and died in the waning light of the sun.

Kakashi couldn’t process what he’d just seen. He stood from his seat on the sofa, felt his legs wobble beneath him, and fell forward to crash through the coffee table, collapsing it into two large halves with a  _ crack  _ that sounded like the loudest noise he’d ever perceived. Struggling to his feet, he swung his gaze around his quarters, unable to focus his eyes on anything.

Then, a single remembered sentence from the video sliced through the blurred haze like a knife, returning him to some semblance of reality.

_ I’ve just finished speaking to Hiruzen and his wife. _

Old Admiral Sarutobi had known, had spent his entire life aboard the ship knowing that they were leaving the entire world behind them to die. He had known, and so had his wife.

And if they had known…

A red anger began to swell in Kakashi’s addled brain as the roaring of blood behind his ears intensified. He slammed his palm against the release on the front door of his suite, emerged into the corridor, and immediately headed toward the bridge, picking up speed with every stride.

* * *

Sakura let her head fall to the kitchen table with a dull thud. She felt Sasuke shift in his seat beside her as he turned to look at her with concern, but at this point she hardly cared what he thought. A groan escaped her lips.

“Sasuke… There is  _ nothing  _ here. We’ve looked over every inch of the ship, every tiny forgotten corridor, every crawlspace in Sector 6. Everywhere aboard the ship that some secret sector could be, it’s accounted for and very heavily documented that there is something there that is perfectly rational and meant to be there. There is no place on this station that could be Sector 7.”

Sasuke rubbed his hands against his temples. The worst part was that she was right: They’d looked everywhere, and they were no closer to finding either Sector 7 or Hinata. The table was a mess of datacards, paper printouts of blueprints, and even a few actual physical ship’s charts that Sakura had stolen from the Records Cell. How she’d got those out, she hadn’t explained, and Sasuke hadn’t had any intention of asking.

“There has to be  _ something.  _ Hinata was kidnapped over this phrase, there is no way Nagato or anyone else would have gone to extremes like that over a misunderstanding. Sector 7 exists, and if we don’t find it soon Hinata is  _ as good as dead!” _

His voice rang out in the empty suite, and he clamped his mouth shut, furious with himself. Sakura’s eyes widened at the outburst, and the two of them just stared at each other. The weight of what he’d just shouted hung in the air between them.

Then Sakura reached out and grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly. He squeezed it back.

“Sasuke, it’s okay. We’re going to find her.” Taking a deep breath, the pink-haired woman returned to the pile of papers in front of her. “I think we need to re-evaluate what we’re doing, and go back to trying to find Hinata, instead of chasing Sector 7. Unless there’s some kind of hidden chamber that’s not on any of these blueprints, some kind of blind spot in the ship’s planning records, I don’t see how it could possibly… Sasuke?”

All at once, all of the colour had drained from Sasuke’s face. 

“Sasuke? What is it?”

Sasuke barely heard her. The things she had just said were racing through his mind.

_ “Some kind of blind spot…” _

_ “There is no place  _ on this station  _ that could be Sector 7.” _

And then another voice joined hers: the voice of his daughter, of Sarada reporting to him during the first stage of the approach earlier that day.

_ “We had a minor blip on one of the scopes along the aft axis…” _

The hairs on the back of Sasuke’s neck stood on end. “Sakura, I have to go to the bridge.

Her face was a picture of worried confusion. “What? Sasuke, you’re scaring me.”

He turned to look at her, and the expression in his eyes was one that she never forgot, for the rest of her life.

“I know where Sector 7 is.”

Sakura’s face went pale, and for a second her mouth flopped open like a fish. Then, she visibility composed herself, and stood.

“Then I’m coming with you. Let’s go.”

* * *

On the bridge, a rolling cheer sounded from the operations zone. Neji obviously wouldn’t allow himself to join, out of regard for protocol, but that didn’t stop him from letting a wide smile spread across his face. Turning to the rear of the bridge, he addressed the gathered Commanders.

“Commander Yamanaka, approach procedures are complete: We have arrived at Site III.” The cheering from the crew doubled in intensity at his words, until Neji couldn’t even hear the Commander’s reply, but the look on his face was enough.

Neji turned to his console and tapped a few keys. The front wall of the bridge shimmered and rippled as the datascreens adjusted to show the exterior view of the  _ Konoha.  _

And there it was: Site III.

At first glance, it looked so much like Earth, multitudes of green continents resting in a planet-covering ocean of blue. But looking closer, one noticed that the green of the land was markedly different, almost a yellow colour, and the cloud patterns that dotted the planet’s surface were utterly unlike anything that had ever been seen on earth. Most notably of all, a band of ruby-red land encircled the entire planet like a belt on its equatorial plane. This massive landmass was largely a mystery, but the Science Cell’s best estimation was that it was an equatorial region of intense heat and massive cliffs.

The entire crew went utterly silent at the sight of the planet below. Even the Commanders were at a loss for words, seeing the world that they and their parents had travelled over 80 years to reach. Glancing to the side, Neji was slightly shaken to see that Mr. Sarutobi had risen from his seat in the corner, staring wide-eyed at the screen, a single tear having traced a line down his left cheek.

For a moment, there was complete silence. No one seemed to want to be the first one to speak, to break the spell that the sight on the screen had cast over the entire room.

Then the bridge’s main door silently slid open, and a figure with a shock of messy silver hair stormed into the room, heading straight for Asuma.

Kakashi Hatake reached the other man, reached out his hand, and grabbed him by the collar. The object of his wrath stumbled backward, his heel knocking over the chair he’d taken to sitting in for hours at a time. As he yelled in surprise, the Commanders leaped into action, all moving toward the sudden breakout of violence.

“What the hell? Hatake, get your fucking hands off me!” Sarutobi grabbed ahold of Kakashi’s forearm, but the other man’s grip was like iron.

“Admiral Hatake? Sir, what are you doing?! You need to leave, before-”

Kakashi’s typically quiet, measured voice roared, stifling all four of the men trying to speak over each other.

“ _ You knew, you son of a bitch! You knew all along!” _

At his words, the bearded man abruptly stopped struggling. Kakashi watched, slightly amazed despite himself, as the other man’s face transformed. His eyes went dull and his mouth closed into a firm line as Kakashi’s words made their mark. Looking at him, the Sarutobi heir practically appeared to age by 20 years.

Sarutobi turned and looked at the three Commanders, who were surveying the situation with varying degrees of stunned disbelief. A shocked silence had spread over the entire bridge, the excitement of their arrival at Site III temporarily forgotten in the chaos.

“Commanders, this is between Admiral Hatake and myself. Respectfully, I’d like to ask you to permit us to have the CO’s office to ourselves.”

Shikamaru’s face was utterly shocked. The look on Fugaku’s face immediately said what he thought of the idea, but as he opened his mouth to vocalize his thoughts, Inoichi raised a hand and stretched in across his chest, blocking him. For a moment, the man’s dull grey-blue eyes slowly panned from Kakashi, to Sarutobi, then back again. 

Then he nodded slowly. “Be quick, if you could.”

Sarutobi looked at Kakashi, nodding down at the hand that still gripped his collar. Without another word, the other man released his hold on the other man’s jacked before gesturing toward the door of his former office. The Sarutobi heir strode through without another word, Kakashi following.

Once they were both inside and the door had slid closed, Sarutobi turned to the  _ Konoha’s  _ Commanding Officer.

“How did you find out?”

There was no anger, no malice in his voice. If anything, he simply sounded tired.

Kakashi raised his hand, showing a tiny object clutched between two fingers. A data card.

“Admiral Senju gave this to me, just before she died. It’s a recording of your grandfather.”

Sarutobi’s eyebrows rose at that, then he sighed. “I suppose you know everything, then.”

His calmness only infuriated Kakashi further, but he bit his tongue and forced his anger down. More violence wasn’t going to solve anything at this stage.

“How could you keep this to yourself?  _ How _ ? This ship- everyone on it, they had a right to know! They had a right to know how important this was!”

Sarutobi looked at him, and the look on his face made Kakashi stop dead. He’d only ever seen a look like that once before, and it was so long ago that it took him a few seconds to even reconstruct where he knew it from. Then it clicked: it was the look of a tired, exasperated father gave his son after an outlandish question, the look of patient pity reserved for a young child who was trying to be eloquent about things they didn’t comprehend.

It was the look his father had given him, after he’d asked where his mother had gone.

“What would it have changed, Kakashi? How would the knowledge, all this time, have caused anything other than pain?”

Kakashi opened his mouth, then closed it again. The sound of his first name coming from Sarutobi’s mouth had been strange enough, but as he considered the other man’s words, he realized he had no rebuttal.

The brown-haired man nodded at his silence, then stode to the office door. As he reached for the release, he turned to Kakashi. “I’ll be leaving the bridge now. You can consider my grievance against your ability to command lifted, if you’d like. I won’t be back.”

Without another word, he left the office. Kakashi heard his retreating footsteps toward the main bridge doors, a confused question from Inoichi, Asuma’s soft reply, then the soft  _ whirr  _ of the bridge entrance opening to allow him to leave.

That was the last straw. Kakashi flopped down into the chair behind his former desk, a feeling of bemused confusion colouring his vision.

_ What would it have changed, Kakashi? _

He was ashamed to say that he couldn’t think of an answer to that question- not a positive one, anyway. 

Sarutobi was right.

Kakashi simply sat for several moments, staring at the closed office door, lost in his confused thoughts. He started as the door slid open, and realized with a further shock that Sasuke stood in the doorway, with Sakura standing at his side.

“I’ve found it. I’ve found Sector 7.”

* * *

Sasuke came to a halt in front of Neji, barely registering the salute offered by the Prelate of Helm enough to raise his hand in a rushed reply. Neji’s pale eyes were narrowed in concern and confusion.

“Sir… What’s going on?”

Sasuke took a deep breath. “Lieutenant, I assure you that I will explain everything shortly. For now, I need something from you.”

Neji pressed his lips together, stifling the questions he was sure to be feeling, and nodded. “Hai, Sir. The bridge is yours.”

Sasuke shook his head “I don’t need command, not right now. What I need is for you to launch a probe to the aft of the station, directly along the vector of the Byakugan’s blind spot.”

As his words hung in the air, Neji’s expression of confusion shifted subtly, becoming a face of guarded disbelief. Sasuke could practically see the doubtful questions forming behind his eyes, but once again he swallowed his concerns and simply nodded, turning and signalling a member of the bridge crew.

Kakashi and Sakura both stepped up to stand on either side of Sasuke. Sakura looked at her husband warily. “What are you expecting to find here?” Kakashi was silent, but the expression spreading over his face made Sakura incredibly uneasy.

Sasuke shook his head. “In a few minutes, if I’m right, we’ll know.” He turned to direct his attention to Sarada’s workstation. “Petty Officer Uchiha, give me visual on the probe’s track and patch it to the main bridge viewscreen.”

Sarada turned without a word, tapping away at her console. The image of Site III on the screen across the front wall disappeared, being replaced by a view of the rear of the ship from the perspective directly below the bridge. A spherical white probe was slowly working its way directly away from the scope, carefully controlled jets of compressed air pushing it through the vacuum of space.

The probe moved away from the bridge, the image on the screen shrinking as it went. Sasuke stared at it, his eyes locked to the dwindling white circle as it tracked the line fed to it by the bridge crew to represent the cone of space that the Byakugan had no perception of.

Then, something impossible happened on the screen. The very space around the probe seemed to  _ warp,  _ rippling and distorting around the sphere like the surface of a pool of water tipped on its side. The probe seemed to stretch, its outline distending in a way that seemed to defy visual logic, then with a final shudder it vanished. The wobbling space it had occupied shimmered, then settled back to nothingness.

Sarada’s face went rigid, and she instinctively reached up to grasp the necklace she wore. Across the bridge, someone cursed softly.

“That’s… that’s a stealth field. There’s something up there behind a cloak.” Neji’s voice sounded like he could hardly believe the words he was saying. Sakura had turned to Sasuke, and this time there was no mistaking the fear on her face. Kakashi’s eyes were still boring into the screen, fixated on the point where the probe had just vanished.

“This can’t be. Even if…  _ something… _ were out there, disguised, how could it have possibly come  _ this close  _ to us without any of our sensors picking up on it? There must be some other explanation.” Fugaku had joined the group, and was shaking his head desperately.

Sasuke turned to look at his father. “We never bothered to ask, why does the Byakugan even  _ have  _ a blind spot? We have the technology for a generation-spanning mission in a city-sized space station, but it wasn’t possible to design the radar to have full coverage?”

Neji’s head snapped to look at him. Realization flashed onto his face at Sasuke’s words.

“That blind spot was meant to be there. When the  _ Konoha  _ was being constructed, the Byakugan was installed specifically so that there would be this gap in coverage, but with just enough of a veneer of deniability that no one would question why it happens. All to hide that.” Sasuke pointed at the screen. “Something has been following us, matching every vector, our exact pathway, our exact velocity. 

“And it was there when we launched.”

No one on the bridge spoke. Kakashi had finally turned away from the screen, and his gaze had settled on Sasuke. Sakura had reached out and placed a hand firmly on the side of Sarada’s operation console, as if to steady herself. Shikamaru had placed a hand over his lips, his eyes wide and haunted.

A mechanical chime sounded through the bridge, startling everyone. Neji looked down at his screen, then stared at it for several seconds.

“Admiral Hatake… Lieutenant Uzumaki’s DOT is back online. She’s in Sector 3, in the main hangar.”


	9. Exodus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies, everyone, for how long it's taken for this update. Real life has taken a turn for the busy recently, between work and college, which has meant that writing time has been incredibly hard to come by. Considering how pivotal these next few chapters are to the story, I didn't want to do them a disservice by rushing through without giving the developments the time they deserved. Consider this Sunday's chapter, and from here on in I should be back to the usual Sunday update schedule.

“Sasuke, you have to contact him. He deserves to know.”

Sakura’s hand shot out to seize her husband’s wrist, stopping him in his tracks.

As soon as the initial shock of Neji’s thunderous revelation had worn off, Sasuke had wasted no time. An urgent, hushed conversation with Kakashi, Inoichi, Fugaku and Shikamaru had immediately ensued, even as the rest of the bridge had erupted into a confused babble of voices.

_ “I’m going down there.” _

_ Kakashi immediately shook his head. _

_ “Out of the question. It’s not a coincidence that Hinata’s DOT came back online less than ten minutes after you found whatever is out there. Nagato knows, somehow, which means he’s getting information from the bridge itself. And he is most definitely using Hinata as bait.” _

_ Sasuke turned to his Commanding Officer. _

_ “Of course it’s a trap. But what do you suppose happens to Hinata if the trap isn’t sprung? He knows where Sector 7 is, now-” Sasuke pointed at the main viewscreen, still glowing with a blue-tinted image of the seemingly empty view of the space along the aft axis of the  _ Konoha.  _ “At this point, she’s probably outlived whatever usefulness she had in the first place, and I can assure that he is not the type of man to act charitably out of the kindness of his heart.” _

_ “Hypothetically,” Shikamaru spoke up, “Say we do take the bait. There’s still no reason for it to be  _ you  _ who personally goes down to the hangar. In case you’ve forgotten, Sir, you’re currently in command of this ship.” _

_ “There’s an excellent reason for me to go: Itachi.” _

_ Fugaku’s face turned to stone at the mention of his eldest son, but he said nothing and let Sasuke continue. _

_ “If Nagato is in Sector 3 with Hinata, Itachi is with them. Nagato has made it very clear that he trusts a very small circle of associates, and my brother is among them. If anyone else shows up to investigate, they’ll be totally at the mercy of Nagato. If I’m there, there is at least a chance that things will play out peacefully.” _

_ Kakashi’s eyes were doubtful, and Sasuke’s annoyance at the group’s lack of action was etched all over his face. Shikamaru’s was looking uncertainly between his two superiors, while Fugaku had closed his eyes, a vein beginning to visibly pulse in his temple. Inoichi, however, had never taken his gaze from Sasuke, and there was thoughtfulness in his pale eyes. _

_ “My command of the  _ Konoha  _ was nothing but a byproduct of a technicality, based on a grievance that has now been lifted. There’s no reason for Admiral Hatake to not resume command at least until we make planetfall, but we do not have time to sit here and pontificate about the pros and cons of our next move when  _ Hinata’s life may be in danger!”

_ Sasuke’s voice had risen steadily over the course of the last few sentences, and Sakura looked uneasily behind them at the crew pit. Several of the nearest bridge staff had turned to look in their direction, the buzz of conversation dying down. Sakura swallowed and returned her attention to the command team’s conversation. _

_ Kakashi reached up and rubbed the back of his head with his hand. “Captain Uchiha… I understand your concern, but I don’t think I can-” _

_ “Sir, I think he’s right.” _

_ Kakashi turned to fix his eyes on Inoichi, a stunned expression on his face that even his mask couldn’t hide. Inoichi returned his gaze without wavering. _

_ “Every point Captain Uchiha has made is completely valid. I may not have as acute an understanding of this Nagato person’s disposition, but you know that I pride myself on knowing my way around the psychology of the human mind. Everything that Sasuke has told us, and even this plan to use Hinata as bait, points to Nagato being mentally conflicted at best, dangerously unstable at worst. Action must be taken.” _

_ Sasuke bowed his head in Inoichi’s direction. Kakashi looked at Inoichi for a handful of seconds more, then turned to look at Fugaku and Shikamaru. “What do the two of you have to say?” _

_ Fukagu’s eyes opened slowly, and Sakura was relieved to see the anger smouldering within them had dulled considerably since the mention of his firstborn. “Sir, you know that I preach caution and logic over all else. That being said, what Sasuke says about his brother is true: before he… left, Itachi would move the stars themselves for Sasuke. Sasuke may be the only person onboard who could get through to him, and through him, the rest of the group.” Shikamaru said nothing, merely nodding his agreement with the older Commander. _

_ Kakashi sighed, then turned back to Sasuke. “Very well, Captain… Sasuke… If you’re set to do this, I won’t stop you. But all I ask is that you take the utmost care, and don’t take any unnecessary risks.” _

_ Sasuke nodded briefly, already turning toward the door. Sakura quickly took a few large steps and placed herself between him and the bridge entrance.  _

_ “I’m coming along.” _

_ Sasuke froze, and she could see the arguments forming on his lips. She didn’t give him the opportunity to voice them. _

_ “There’s nothing that you can say that’s going to change my mind. I agree with Commander Yamanaka about your reasoning, but there is absolutely no reason for you to go down there alone. I’m coming.” _

_ Sasuke’s unsaid objections died in his throat. “Sakura... “ _

_ His wife simply shook her head, then turned toward the doors. “Come on, we’re wasting time.” _

Then, only a few moments following their departure from the bridge, Sakura had brought up the point of Hinata’s husband, and informing him of the developments, a course of action which Sasuke had immediately vetoed.

“Sasuke, he needs to know. It’s not fair to him to try and hide this, not after everything he’s been through.”

Sasuke shook his head again, but Sakura could see the conflict in his face. “If we tell him, no force in this galaxy will keep him from coming along behind us.”

“And is that such a bad thing? You and I both know that either of us would trust Naruto with our lives. And besides, he’s got much more up-to-date combat training than you do, so I don’t see how having him along would be a negative.”

Sasuke shot her a look, and Sakura was relieved to see the slightest hint of a smile turn up the corner of his mouth. “I suppose we’re getting the old band back together, then.”

Sakura smiled back at him, then motioned down the hallway. As they resumed their frantic pace toward the ship’s main hangar, Sasuke reached into his tunic pocket and retrieved his datapad, keying on live communication.

“Naruto? It’s Sasuke. Meet me at the hangar entrance to Sector 3. We think we’ve found Hinata.”

* * *

To the surprise of neither of them, Naruto was waiting for them when he arrived. The man was practically shuddering, his whole body visibility charged with energy. Rather than his usual wide grin, as they approached his face flashed a small troubled smile, tinted by the shadow of anxiety. His issued sidearm was still stored on his waist, but Sasuke’s sharp eyes noticed his right hand twitching every now and then toward the leather of the holster, the muscles in his forearm flexing visibly.

Sasuke had filled him in on what they knew during their conversation, and it couldn’t be more clear that Naruto was several orders of magnitude more worried about what Nagato might do than anyone else.

“Good to see you both.”

Sasuke nodded to his best friend, clasping a comforting hand on his shoulder very briefly. Beside him, Sakura did her best to offer him a warm, reassuring smile. 

“Naruto, when we get in there, I need you to follow my lead, to the letter. We are dealing with extremely dangerous people, and we have absolutely no way of knowing what they’ll do. We can’t act impulsively.”

Naruto’s eyes flashed, and for a brief moment Sasuke thought he was going to argue. Thankfully, the moment passed, and the blonde man simply swallowed thickly. 

“Sasuke… I’ll do my best. But they have my  _ wife.” _

Sasuke’s stomach wrenched at the sound of Naruto’s voice. “I know. Just trust me, please.”

Naruto took a deep breath. “I always trust you.”

Drawing his sidearm, Sasuke motioned toward the hangar doors. Naruto and Sakura both did the same, their eyes following his gesture to fix themselves on the heavy grey steel. According to Hinata’s DOT reading, she- and whoever else might be with her- was about 50 meters beyond the entrance, down on the main hangar floor. The door they stood outside led onto a raised perimeter around the hangar pit, which would offer a bit of a vantage point, but the hangar floor was always so filled with vehicles that they likely wouldn’t be able to see anything until they were more or less directly on top of their destination.

The doors slid open without a sound. Naruto stuck his head through the opening, levelling his pistol out the doorway to the right, then switching to check the left. He nodded and made a slight chopping motion with his left hand, two fingers extended. Sasuke and Sakura both moved through the doorway, their own weapons drawn and readied. The husband and wife began making their way toward the staircase that led down into the main hangar area, with Naruto following behind them facing backward, trailing his gaze across the walls, scanning for any sort of movement. 

Moving in this loose inverted triangle formation, the three figures reached the hangar floor and began carefully making their way through the grid of assorted spacecraft arranged in neat rows across the massive space. 

As the trio wove between the resting hulks of the  _ Konoha’s  _ spacecraft stores, they found themselves seamlessly easing back into their Academy routines, habitual relics of a time when the protocol of small-squad movement through potentially hostile environments had been so drilled into their memories that it’d practically been second nature. Even now, decades later, Naruto could practically see the procedure steps etched into the very air in front of his eyes in shining red letters.  _ Approach. Point Check. Move to Cover. Repeat. _

_ Old habits die hard.  _ The thought drew the corners of Naruto’s mouth up into a small smile. Despite the immense seriousness of the situation they found themselves in, there was a certain cold comfort to be found in the familiarity of the routine, slowly advancing through the steel maze with his two closest friends. It could have been any one of a hundred combat drills, with Lieutenant Umino waiting just around the corner to end the exercise and outline everything they’d done wrong.

Shaking himself slightly to loosen the grip of nostalgia on his faculties, Naruto refocused his mind on the here and now, maintaining his position at the rear of their formation, pointing his weapon from one opening between shuttles to another, his peripheral vision keyed to register Sasuke or Sakura’s hand signals from in front of him. They’d been advancing this way for about six minutes, but it felt like it’d been much longer. The silence, broken only by the occasional distant roar of machinery somewhere else in the station, was stifling.

Two paces in front of him, Sakura and Sasuke approached the nearest craft, a small, deceptively delicate-looking tapered cylinder resting on squat landing legs, a collection of shining control fins jutting from its aft end. With her left fist clenched and held at head height in the standard “Hold position” signal, Sakura slowly peered around the corner of the ship’s cockpit, bringing her sidearm along to match her gaze. There was a barely perceptible intake of breath from her direction, then a voice rang out, deafening in the silence of the hangar. 

“Drop your weapons. All of you.”

Naruto’s eyes widened. Beside him, he felt Sasuke’s muscles stiffen as he went rigid. The dark-haired man turned his head to face his friend and slashed a hand across his throat. The intent of the gesture was as clear as it would have been if he’d spoken aloud:

_ He’s bluffing. Hold now, and let’s see what his next move is. _

The voice sounded again, but this time it was a bit softer, and had taken on the distinctly clipped tones of someone speaking over comms.

“Konan, Captain Uchiha and Petty Officer Uzumaki appear to require convincing.”

Naruto barely had time to register the words before Sasuke’s eyes flew downward to focus on a point on his chest. Looking down at himself, Naruto was greeted by the sight of a luminescent green dot, dancing directly across his sternum. Looking back up at Sasuke, the blonde man gritted his teeth and shook his head. Sasuke’s lips tightened into a grimace, and he cursed under his breath before raising his voice and speaking toward the corner of the shuttle.

“Nagato, we’re rounding the corner now. You can call off your sniper.”

Holding his pistol in one hand by the haft, finger visibly placed far away from the trigger, Sasuke raised his either hand to head height, open palm facing forward, before stepping around the hulking metal shape into the open space beyond. Naruto and Sakura followed.

At the other side of the small clearing bordered by exo-station vehicles stood Nagato, his characteristic black cloak parted ever so slightly to reveal the black gleam of meteorite steel beneath it. Deidara and Kisame stood on either side of him, each aiming a long, ugly-looking rifle across the space at the trio of  _ Konoha  _ crew members. They were similarly kitted, black cloaks concealing plates of shining black body armor. Nagato himself had forgone heavy ordnance in favor of a more compact weapon that Naruto immediately recognized as an antique Karatec Spiker. One of the few mass-produced weapons of the last century that fired physical slugs rather than energy pulses, the Spiker was notorious for the lasting detrimental impact caused by the small slivers of metal it fired, which would splinter upon contact, scattering hundreds of tiny white-hot metal fragments throughout the target, each piece carving its own jagged path from the entry wound. The effect of the shots on human tissue was described as less of a standard projectile wound, and more like someone had taken a blender to the point of contact. The Spiker had been outlawed on Earth very quickly after it launched, and to Naruto’s knowledge they had never been produced on board the  _ Konoha,  _ so either Nagato had connections to some very sinister arms manufacturers in Sector 6, or the pistol he calmly leveled at the group was very old indeed.

Sasuke held up his own sidearm, carefully displaying the softly glowing green light of the engaged safety catch, then slowly knelt down to slide the weapon across the floor to Nagato and his crewmates, motioning for Naruto and Sakura to do the same. Deidara stooped down to pick up the three pistols and immediately yanked out the power clips from each one, tossing them aside. 

Straightening up, Sasuke fixed Nagato with an icy stare, black eyes boring into pale violet.

“You’ve made your point. Now where is she?”

Nagato studied the three figures before him, and for a moment he didn’t seem inclined to answer. Sasuke felt Naruto shaking beside him, and hoped with every fiber of his being that his friend would be able to contain the anguished rage that had no doubt been building inside him.

Then, a new sound began to ring out in the hangar: the sound of two sets of footsteps, slowly increasing in volume. One set had a peculiar metallic ring to it, as though a steel plate was being rhythmically slammed against a wall. Nagato simply motioned to his right, toward the “lane” formed by the ships there.

Hinata Uzumaki rounded the corner of the ship, her lips closed in a hard line, her pale eyes staring straight ahead. For a split second, her eyes focused on Naruto, and the shocked relief that radiated from her face was enough to immediately quell Sasuke’s last lingering suspicions of betrayal.

Then another figure stepped into view, placing a metal hand on Hinata’s shoulder. The woman winced at the touch of the cold steel fingers.

Sasuke saw the man who had come with Hinata, and his blood ran cold. Beside him, he could almost hear the stunned disbelief of his companions.

“It can’t be… It’s not possible. You’re dead.” 

Orochimaru Hebi fixed a withering smile on Sasuke’s face. “In a sense, I am. But then, if my work has taught me nothing else, it’s that death is sometimes simply a matter of perspective.”

* * *

On the bridge, Kakashi was pacing back and forth frantically. Fugaku had moved into the crew bay and had roused the bridge crew back to work, continuing to monitor the  _ Konoha’s  _ orbit path and make minute adjustments to ensure stability around Site III. Shikamaru was leaning over Neji’s control console, eyes fixed on the camera view that contained the mysterious cloaked object.

“No activity that I can see, sir. Not that what I can see amounts for much, now that we know what we know.”

Kakashi nodded distractedly. “Keep an eye on things. If that thing is a ship, and there’s someone on board, they’ll have seen our probe and they know we’ve found them. We can’t disregard the possibility of hostility from whoever they are.” Shikamaru nodded as Kakashi turned to Inoichi, standing at the top of the stairs beside him. “What about the hangar?”

“Looking at the DOT display, they’ve stopped moving, and they’ve reconvened with Hinata’s DOT as well. So whatever trap has been planned down there, it’s in the process of being sprung.” Inoichi was studying his datapad screen. The light from the portable console bathed his face in a pale blue glow.

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head. “Can we see them on any of the surveillance feeds? Or do the ships block the view?”

Inoichi shook his head. “I was trying to keep an eye on them as best I could, but it’s no good where they are now. Nagato was very careful.”

Taking a deep breath, Kakashi turned to look down into the bustle of activity in the crew pit.

_ Sasuke knows what he’s doing. You have to trust him. _

“Keep tabs on them as best you can. If anything changes, let me know immediately.” The Commanding Officer of the  _ Konoha  _ stepped down into the crew pit.

* * *

“I suppose I owe you a word of gratitude, Captain Uchiha.” Orochimaru’s eyes glittered with delight, surveying the three figures in front of him. His waxy skin was pulled tight over his skull, giving him a gaunt, corpse-like appearance. His left arm and shoulder and most of his lower body below the hip were entirely cybernetic, the shiny meteorite steel forming a stark contrast against his pale body. “Decades of searching for Sector 7, and you found it for us in days. Wonderful initiative!”

Beside him, Hinata winced once again as his metallic hand tightened its grip on her shoulder. Naruto’s eyes fixed on the hand, his bright blue eyes alight with enraged fire. 

“You either pay attention to what you’re doing with that hunk of steel, or I feed it to you.” In all the years they’d known each other, Sasuke had never heard such malice in Naruto’s vice. Venom dripped from every syllable, the words delivered like each one was a shot fired directly into the heart of the corpse-looking man that stood before them. Orichimaru’s sunken yellow eyes flashed, the skin stretching over his skull as he bared his remaining teeth in a grin at Naruto’s challenge. A chill ran down Sasuke’s spine, and for a brief moment he saw the tenuous balance collapse, and all hell break loose. 

Then Sakura hurriedly stepped in front of Naruto, grabbing hold of his hand and squeezing tightly. The spell broke, and Naruto’s eyes dulled ever so slightly as he struggled to regain control over himself, but malicious intent continued to surround him like a cloak. Sakura fixed her gaze on Orochimaru..

“You’ve found what you were looking for. Hinata has nothing left to offer you. Sasuke found whatever this damn thing is for you, you let Hinata go, and we go our separate ways.”

Orochimaru turned his attention to Sakura. He chuckled, and the sound of the laugh sent chills down Sasuke’s spine; it sounded like a rusty airlock disengaging.   
  


“My dear, our business is far from concluded. My purpose is absolute, and I must ensure that nothing bars me from the truth.”

Sasuke took two steps forward. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Deidara and Kisame both snap their weapons up and train them on him, but he ignored them.

“Where is Itachi?”

Orochimaru sighed melodramatically, raising his right arm in an exaggerated gesture of dismay. 

“Itachi elected not to come along for this particular adventure, and I saw no reason to contradict his desire. I assume he foresaw this exact confrontation happening, and sought to keep his hands clean of what would ensue.” At his words, Sasuke felt a deep coldness in his gut, as though a small steel ball had dropped into the pit of his stomach. 

_ I was so certain I could diffuse this, all because I knew I could talk Itachi down if push came to shove. I bet everything on him, and he’s not even here. _

_ Whatever happens now- every drop of blood that ends up spilled- is on my hands.  _

Orochimaru turned to his underlings. “Bah! We waste time. Gentlemen, prepare our guests for transport.”

Without warning, the three maintenance dwellers moved forward. It took every ounce of Sasuke’s conditioning to allow Nagato to step directly in front of him without his old self-defence instincts kicking in; he could hardly believe that Naruto had managed not to launch himself at Kisame’s throat. Nagato held out a hand, and Sasuke saw that it contained a small device that he had never seen before. It was a small circle of metal with a tiny lattice of transistors patterned across its smooth surface, all leading to a tiny transmitter chip placed at the far side of the object. Looking around, he saw that Deidara and Kisame held similar pieces of metal.

Nagato slowly passed the metal disc along Sasuke’s left arm, starting from the wrist, holding it about an inch away from his skin. Just before his elbow, the circuitry began to glow a faint red colour, and Nagato stopped moving the disc. A few seconds later, the light changed from red to blue, and the disc emitted a small click. Nodding, Nagato withdrew the device and turned around, placing it on the floor a few feet behind him.

“So what is this supposed to be?” Naruto pushed the words out through clenched teeth. 

Orochimaru replied, “We have business to conduct off-ship, all of us, and I don’t appreciate interruptions to my critical work. We’re simply going to borrow your DOT signals for a little while- we wouldn’t want Admiral Hatake to be unduly concerned, would we?”

A ringing  _ clang  _ from beside them made Sasuke jump slightly, as he swung his head around. A crew freighter’s boarding ramp had dropped down, and Konan stood in the entryway.’

“This one should do nicely.”

Nagato nodded shortly. Gesturing to the doorway, he shot a hard look at Sasuke.

Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura slowly walked up the boarding ramp, into the freighter, as Konan disappeared into the cockpit of the freighter. Nagato, Kisame and Deidara followed, weapons drawn. Finally, Orochimaru and Hinata came on board, and the skeletal scientist finally released his grasp on Hinata’s arm. With a short gasp, she rushed across the passenger bay and threw her arms around Naruto’s neck, who shuddered in reply. They immediately began whispering to each other, and despite everything else, Sasuke felt a slight flutter of relief.

_ Now I just have to get us all out of this alive. _

* * *

As her parents and her (boy?)friend’s parents were loaded onto a shuttle toward revelation, Sarada Uchiha’s focus was glued to her workstation on the bridge. The discoveries of the last hour had stunned her to a state of bemused silence, and Sarada was not used to being at a loss for words. The buzzing chatter of the bridge had died down to a lesser hum, but it was still very clear that there was one thing, and one thing only, on the minds of everyone present.

What an absurd turn of events this was: They’d just entered orbit around  _ another planet,  _ and not only another planet, but the planet that would most likely be their home. Over eighty years of exploring the stars was about to culminate, and now no one was even looking at the images of Site III on their terminal screens.

_ This was already going to be the most interesting day of my life… Who could have predicted this would be the reason why? _

The events of the evening spun wildly through her head. If Admiral Hatake’s whirlwind entry to the bridge and her father’s startling declaration that their path was being constantly traced by some unknown object, then Lieutenant Uzumaki had suddenly resurfaced apropos of nothing. Though she hadn’t been near enough to overhear any of the conversations her parents had been party to with the command team, the significance of the timing of Hinata Uzumaki’s return was not lost on Sarada; she was her father’s daughter, and it didn’t take prodigy-level intellect to realize that it was very unlikely that the situation was a coincidence.

“Sarada!” A familiar voice sounded from the direction of the bridge entrance, cutting through the haze of her thoughts and the low drone of the room surrounding her. Sarada leaped to her feet and turned to the exit, meeting Boruto just inside the doorway.

“What are you doing here?” She stared at him for a few moments before remembering the developments of their relationship in the last few weeks, then a pink tint crept across her face. “Um… I mean, it’s really nice to see you!” She awkwardly reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Boruto’s face was even more pink than hers, and he stood stone-still for a few seconds as neither of them spoke. Then he smiled, leaned forward, and kissed her lightly on the lips. Sarada immediately felt the tightness in her chest dissipate.  _ Oh, thank goodness, that was a horrible few seconds… This “couple” thing is going to take some getting used to. _

“I hear things have been going insane up here… what’s going on?”

Sarada froze at the question. The implications of everything that had gone on all crashed over her like a wave, along with the icy realization that Boruto was unaware that his mother had resurfaced. Sarada was uncomfortably aware that a pivotal choice lay before her: tell him what had happened and suffer the consequences of what impulse might grip him with that knowledge, or do what she could to keep him safe.

It was a decision that she only grappled with for a few seconds. “Boruto… Your mother’s DOT tracking is back online. My parents have headed out to go get her.”

Every muscle in Boruto’s body went stiff. Sarada watched his eyes go wide, could practically see the firing of his synapses as he processed the charge she’d dropped on him. She held her breath, steeling herself against whatever would come next, whether it be tears, confusion, or outright rage.

“How long ago?”

Sarada blinked at how calm he sounded, her face shifting from determined resolve to sheer bewilderment at his lack of response. “Um… it’s been about forty minutes?”

Boruto nodded, and his lips drew together into a hard line. At that moment, Sarada realized that he wasn’t underreacting at all- he was trying desperately to hold back the flood of sheer panic.

“She’ll be fine! Mum and dad will bring her back safe, and whoever was responsible for her disappearing in the first place will see justice. Trust me.”

Boruto inhaled deeply, letting his head flop down onto his chest. The young blonde abruptly sat down on the floor, falling as though his knees had simply disengaged out from under him. Sarada tentatively reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Then he looked up, and Sarada felt a pang of empathy grip her when she saw the tears brimming in his eyes. He smiled as best he could. 

“I know, Captain Uchiha won’t let anything happen to her.” He hesitated for a few moments. “Has… has anyone told my father?”

Sarada shook her head. “I don’t know. You know how close he is with my parents… I don’t see how they could have kept it from him.” She studied the pained expression subtly twisting his features. “Boruto… Have you talked to him since you found out?”

He shook his head. The tears had subsided, but now his face was a picture of utter misery.”

“I can’t. Not yet. I know he meant to protect me and Hiwamari by leaving us out of it, I really do. But that doesn’t change the fact that he spent days lying to us about our mother, when he knew the whole time that she could be in danger. I’m not ready to push that aside just yet.”

Sarada sank to the floor beside him and slung an arm around his shoulders. “Forgiveness can wait. Your mum is coming home, that’s the important thing.”

Boruto looked up at her, and Sarada was almost startled by the unbridled love that she felt radiating from him. At that moment, every tiny lingering doubt about what they had become vanished into the depths of space.

“I know. Anyway…” He took a shuddering gulp, cleared his throat, then stood, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand before smiling at her again- a warm, genuine,  _ loving  _ smile- as he offered her his hand.

“How about you show me Site III? Seems like it’d be pretty cool to get a look before basically everyone else onboard.”

Sarada felt a rush of relief at the opportunity to focus on something else, something positive. Taking his hand, she allowed him to lift her to her feet, then led him back over to her workstation. Neither youth noticed Fugaku Uchiha’s appraising eyes follow them across the bridge. 

He smiled.

* * *

The stolen crew freighter exited the hangar, swung around and above the station in a wide arc, then began tracking a path directly toward the mysterious cloaked object. Nagato, Konan, and Kisame had all absconded to the bridge of the craft, while Orochimaru and Deidara remained in the passenger bay. Naruto still had his arms around Hinata, who was seated on his lap in the seat he had collapsed into.

“What do you know about Sector 7? What do you expect to find there?” Sasuke asked in spite of himself.

The former Prelate of Science turned his gaze to the younger man. “The last several years of my life have been spent in pursuit of a monumental discovery. The final proof I need to complete the work is onboard that craft.” Orochimaru went silent after this, and would not elaborate further, no matter what questions Sasuke or Sakura asked throughout the remainder of the flight.

Several minutes passed. At one point, Sasuke felt a barely perceptible shudder in the craft, indicating that they’d passed through the cloaking field surrounding Sector 7. For a brief moment, a thrill of discovery cut through the dread of the situation, momentarily eclipsing the fact that he and his friends had technically been kidnapped from the  _ Konoha.  _ Whatever was up there, there was little doubt that Orochimaru’s pride would lead to his sharing his “monumental discovery” with them, and he couldn’t help but feel a sense of cautious excitement at finally finding out what Sector 7 truly was.

Finally, the rumbling of the freighter’s engines slowed to a barely perceptible hum, and the ship shook with a slight  _ thud  _ as the landing gear engaged and contacted something solid.

“Sir, we’ve arrived.” Konan’s consummately professional voice issued from the cockpit.

Orochimaru’s wide, inhuman smile returned to his face. “And now, do we approach the hour of our destiny. Come, my friends! The pursuit of knowledge awaits none of us.”

The group disembarked from the shuttle, Deidara and Kisame leaving first, weapons free. The captured  _ Konoha  _ crewers followed with Orochimaru, who looked one step removed from wringing his hands with unabashed glee, before Nagato and Konan took positions at the rear.

They had emerged into a hangar, significantly smaller than the main hangar of the  _ Konoha,  _ but still a vast space. It was surprisingly empty, containing only a small handful of vehicles, scattered across the hangar space with much less organization or care than the stock of the  _ Konoha.  _

“Ladies, gentlemen… Welcome to Sector 7.” Orochimaru spread his arms wide, gesturing around them.

Predictably, Naruto was the first to break the silence following his grand announcement. “What exactly do we do now? Go sightseeing?”

Deidara turned to fix the other blonde man with a withering glare, and Sasuke’s keen sight did not miss his grip tightening on the stock of his rifle. However, Orochimaru waved a hand dismissively at the outburst.

“For the moment, we go our separate ways. Deidara, Kisame, Konan, you know what your objective is… Once you find the bay, use your discretion in what you take, but remember what I told you. Nagato, you and I will take our guests and search the ship.”

Deidara, Kisame and Konan all nodded briefly in assent, before breaking off from the group and heading off toward an exit to the hangar that lay to the port side of where their shuttle had been docked. For a brief moment, Sasuke couldn’t help but do the math in his head; they now outnumbered their captors two-to-one. It was almost a guarantee that Naruto, and probably Sakura, were doing the exact same calculations, and judging the risks of making a move, weapons or no.

As if he could read their mind, Nagato clicked off the safety on his spiker in a way that looked utterly nonchalant. At the same time, Orochimaru stepped up next to Sasuke and reached out, placing his cybernetic arm across his shoulders, gesturing around with his remaining human limb.

“Captain Uchiha, you are about to bear witness to a true miracle of discovery, as my guest.” As he spoke, his honeyed words did nothing to disguise the sudden pressure Sasuke felt across both shoulders from his metallic arm. The implication was clear.

_ Do NOT mistake me for a defenseless husk of a man. _

Sasuke’s gaze flicked around to meet Naruto’s, then Sakura’s, then finally Hinata’s eyes. Once all three had seen them, he shook his head a miniscule amount.

Orochimaru clapped his hands and smiled. The sound of skin against metal made an uncomfortable smacking sound as his hands met.

“Excellent, we understand each other. Now, please follow me.”

The tall, thin man abruptly began making his way toward a large bulkhead in the wall across the hangar from the exit barrier. Nagato hung back and looked pointedly at Sasuke until he and the rest of the crew members followed Orochimaru toward the doorway. The red-haired man followed behind, his weapon lowered, but conspicuously not holstered.

The bulkhead led to a tight corridor that twisted and turned several times. They passed through it in silence, the only sound being the tapping of their footsteps, punctuated by the clanking sounds of Orochimaru’s prosthetics on the steel floor. Sasuke studied the walls and locked doors as they passed.

_ It’s old- very old- but there’s no mistaking that it’s Earth technology. Very similar to the construction of the Konoha, actually.  _

His thoughts abruptly stopped when he nearly ran into Orochimaru’s back. The true master of the criminal sect that Sasuke had found himself investigating only a few days prior had halted at a locked door that ended the corridor they were currently traversing. He motioned toward the door, and Nagato stepped forward. Sidearm gripped firmly in his right hand, he reached beneath his cloak with his left and withdrew a compact steel tool, resembling a sized-down welding rod. Pointing it at the lock panel for the door, Nagato triggered a burst of cold blue light, as a concentrated beam of energy emanated out of the device’s end and sliced into the lock. A few seconds later, a  _ click  _ echoed in the silent corridor, and the door slid open without a sound.

The part stepped through the door. The room beyond looked to be about the size of the hangar, but it was difficult to tell; the space was filled with rows upon rows of strange cylindrical tanks, placed on racks that held them just off the floor. Each one had a simple-looking control panel affixed to one side, and appeared to be filled with a cloudy green steam, obscuring any effort to look through them. A catwalk ran around the exterior of the room, and looking up, Sasuke could see that it contained another set of tanks, ringing the entire room.

_ A few thousand, at least. What are these? _

He turned to Orochimaru. “Are these tanks your monumental discoveries? What have you brought us to?”

As Sasuke surveyed the room, Sakura had moved away from the group slightly, wandering down one of the corridors formed by the tanks, gazing around with a mixture of awe and a strange feeling of impending dread. She couldn’t place it, but something about this room made her extremely uneasy.

Her eyes tracked across the room to settle on one tank in particular. As if on impulse, she moved to stand directly in front of said tank, and once she was within a few feet of it, the green smoke had cleared enough to reveal the contents of the plasteel cylinder.

Shock coursed through every nerve of Sakura’s body. Her heart skipped a beat, cold sweat immediately beginning to collect all across her skin. Gooseflesh began to crawl on the back of her neck and arms.

Inside the tube, floating serenely in some indeterminate fluid, was the unconscious form of Sakura herself.


	10. Revelation

Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, Nagato, and Orochimaru had joined Sakura to surround the tube containing her  doppelgänger . Once she’d forced herself to look more closely at the form within the cylinder, Sakura had begun to notice slight differences: The woman floating serenely in the cloudy green fluid appeared to be quite a bit younger than she was- at least twenty years younger, at a guess- and had a slightly different facial structure, with a more defined jaw and a smaller nose that pointed upward. She was very thin; not malnourished, necessarily, but certainly with the look of an individual who had been surviving for a significant amount of time on a purely necessity-based diet. 

These differences did little to alleviate the thunderous shock and mounting disquiet Sakura felt at the discovery.

“What the  _ fuck  _ is this supposed to be?” Sakura rounded on Orochimaru, all the danger of their current situation forgotten, and reached out to grab him by the collar of the tight-fitting bodysuit he wore. Before she could even get close, Nagato had drawn his weapon with nearly inhuman speed, levelling it cooly at her temple. Sasuke and Naruto both made startled movements toward the red-haired man, but Orochimaru signalled dismissively for his underling to stand down, seemingly completely unphased by Sakura’s actions. Nagato lowered his pistol without hesitation, but his eyes remained steadily fixed on Sakura until she had lowered her hands, clenched into fists, then turned back to the tube.

“Orochimaru… You brought us here to find some great secret, and now…  _ This…  _ is sitting here, staring me in the face. I want an explanation.”

In response, Orochimaru moved to step past her toward the tube containing the duplicate Sakura. Reaching out carelessly, he stabbed a pointed metallic finger at the control panel fixed to the side of the tank, tapping away a key sequence. There was silence for a handful of seconds, then a loud hissing noise sounded from somewhere beneath the floor. Several small sections of the bottom of the cylinder opened, barely visible through the liquid housed within, allowing it to very slowly drain through the holes.

“My dear, I would love nothing more than to regale you with the intricacies of my grand discovery- And seeing as the restorative process will take several minutes, there’s no time like the present!” Orochimaru cast his gaze over the four  _ Konoha  _ naval members, offering them an indulgent smile, as a teacher of small children might do when preparing to present a topic they found particularly interesting. The stony expressions of his captive audience did little to suppress the look of arrogant mirth etched all over the former Prelate of Science’s face.

“During my time heading the Science Division, I was involved in several groundbreaking experiments into human life, lifespan, and several other fascinating subjects. You’ve heard the deplorable slander that my work has been stained by, no doubt, but it is one study in particular, a study that began over fifty years ago, that will finally reach its momentous crescendo today.

“One of the many avenues I explored was the pursuit of lifespan extension. Even at such a young age, I was already acutely aware of what a horrific loss of knowledge would come with my death, and sought to do whatever was necessary to prevent that loss, for the good of all humanity. Already, based on records of life on Earth pre-launch, it was clear that we lived a good deal longer than our ancestors, so I saw no reason that I could not employ my brilliance in order to increase the effect, and ensure that my pivotal work could continue for generations into the future. 

“My studies were rooted in the exploration of the human genome, the very building blocks of our species. I disassembled human DNA itself, seeking the strands that, with some slight modifications, would fulfil my ultimate goal. Even I can admit that, at first, I wasn’t sure what I was even looking for, but this was of little consequence. I knew that before long, the secrets of the double helix would reveal themselves to me.

“After several months of study, however, I began to notice something peculiar. I had viewed at least a thousand samples now, from subjects across the entirety of the  _ Konoha _ , what my new associates referred to as ‘top-dwellers’ and maintenance crew members alike. Nagato and his connections to Sector 6’s less, ah, celebrated ventures proved invaluable in ensuring that I had a steady supply of widely varied tissue. I broke down DNA from the young, the old, males, females, the perfectly healthy and the deathly ill.

“And yet, in each and every sample, I found a key sequence, buried deep within the genetic code. A sequence that was completely identical in every single helix that passed through my microscope, and yet not a sequence that was associated with any known aspect of human DNA.

“For those of you not particularly well-versed in the workings of deoxyribonucleic acid, suffice to say that this was completely impossible. Curious, I isolated the sequence itself, and began to probe the depths of this discovery. Little did I realize, I was on the cusp of shattering the very core of knowledge as we knew it.”

A loud creaking sound made the assembled group jump. Sasuke shook himself, suddenly utterly aware of the cold sweat that had begun running in rivulets down his spine, then turned to look back to the tube containing the woman who looked so much like Sakura. The green fluid had drained completely, revealing the intricate metallic harness system holding her unconscious form in place. The respirator node that was clenched between her teeth, which had provided her life-preserving oxygen for who knew how long, withdrew from her lips with a thin mechanical whirring sound. Glancing at the instrument panel of the tube, Sasuke saw a tiny luminous display light up and slowly begin filling with a soft orange light, tracking across the screen from left to right.

“Through further assistance from my Science Division colleagues, I was able to accrue a tissue sample from a newborn baby- taken within the first hours of life, as soon as it could be reasonably acquired. Testing that sample confirmed what I had begun to suspect: that this DNA sequence was present from birth, and from there, it could reasonably be assumed that it was contained in the genetic code of every individual aboard the station.

“Throughout all of this, some key detail regarding the sequence had been floating just beyond my grasp, some final, tantalizing secret that I knew would unlock the true implications of what I had learned. It wasn’t until several days later, however, that I would finally put my finger on what it was, and from there would finally know the truth.

“Studying the makeup of the sequence itself, I realized its shape was wrong- it shared no recognizable patterns with any other portion of the human genome, and yet was so perfectly consistent in its atomic structure.

“It was man-made.

“And thus, my friends, I came to the realization that would lead me to leave the Science Division, the revelation that would show me that my calling was far greater than anything that I could achieve beneath the shackles of the  _ Konoha.  _

“Every human being aboard the  _ Konoha-  _ Me, all of you, the naval crew, the civilians, and the dwellers of Sector 6- are as artificial as this mysterious genome. We are synthetic humans- clones, to use the layperson’s term.

Sasuke’s blood ran cold. 

“I don’t understand… How is that possible?”

Orochimaru shook his head, a look of pity on his face as if to say:  _ It’s alright, I don’t expect you to comprehend, with your meager intelligence.  _ The expression made Sasuke sick.

“The details are far beyond any of you. Rest assured, I determined beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are not human beings. We aren’t simply more long-lived than our ancestors because of advancements in medicine, or in quality of living- we live longer because we were  _ bred to do so.  _ We were put aboard this station to act as caretakers, as chaperones, to escort the  _ true  _ remnants of humanity across the universe, to find a new world to kill as surely as they killed the old one.” He gestured to the pod he stood beside.

Thunderous silence greeted his words. Sasuke struggled to grasp the meaning of his words, attempting to parse the statement through his mind like wet meteor dust through a clogged filter. Beside him, Sakura’s face had gone deathly pale, and she now stared at the woman in the tube with a look of abject horror.

“But, don’t take my word for it- It looks like our comatose friend is just about ready for you to ask her yourself!” With a theatrical flourish, Orochimaru reached out his thin human arm and tapped a final key on the stasis tank control panel. The front half of the tube unlocked and swiveled around to rest behind it, the harness around the figure disengaging to allow her to tumble forward toward the floor. On reflex, Sasuke took two long strides forward to catch the woman’s body, then recoiled slightly in spite of himself.

The woman’s (Sakura’s?) eyes fluttered open, revealing all-too-familiar jade green irises, albeit with the characteristic faded colour and cloudy lenses brought on by stasis fatigue after an extended sleep. Staring into those eyes, so much like the eyes he’d stared into during his wedding and on a million days before and after, Sasuke’s composure broke. He abruptly straightened up and placed the woman down to stand. Her legs immediately wavered, and only by reaching back and clutching the tube behind her did she prevent herself from falling forward once again. The form-fitting grey and black bodysuit she wore glistened with remnants of the fluid she’d been immersed in, strands of her pink hair plastered against her forehead.

The woman leaned against the tank for several seconds, visibly composing herself. Her green eyes were unfocused, looking at nothing in particular while her body’s systems re-acclimated themselves to consciousness. She shivered as dry, conditioned oxygen touched her skin for the first time in decades.

Finally, the woman’s gaze began to track around the room, settling on the faces of the people surrounding her. Her expression of confusion deepened as she looked; clearly, she’d expected her eventual awakening to look very different.

“Why are you the only ones awake? Were the rejuvenation sequences not keyed properly?”

Sakura stepped around from behind Sasuke’s back, where she’d been half-hiding herself from the woman who looked so much like her younger self. The woman who, if Orochimaru was to be believed, had provided the blueprint from which she’d been born- Sakura couldn’t quite bring herself to think “created” or “grown” about her own origins. However, finally seeing her without the haze of green obstructing her features, Sakura finally realized why she’d looked so familiar, even with her small differences: the woman standing before her was the spitting image of the photos she’d seen of her maternal grandmother, who’d launched with the  _ Konoha  _ as a young woman and died several many years ago. The person standing before her now could have stepped directly out of one of those old images.

Upon seeing her, the young Sakura’s expression changed from deep confusion to utterly shocked disbelief. Pure fear flashed in her eyes as she registered the presence of the woman. Her entire body swayed, and she nearly fell directly backward into the tank from which they had awoken her.

“No… This can’t be…”

Orochimaru placed his artificial hand on the young woman’s shoulder. Sasuke saw her flinch instinctively at the feeling of the cold steel through the thin synthetic fabric of her bodysuit. Looking into Orochimaru’s yellow predator eyes, the young Sakura visibly swallowed, every nerve in her body screaming to get away from this man, to not let him touch her, but the heavy grip of the cybernetic fingers so close to her neck paralyzed her into inaction.

“Our sincerest apologies for awakening you early, my dear… But I have a point to prove, and you are by far the most immediate means to acquire the answers I seek.” Those horrible, snakelike eyes bored into the terrified green orbs of his target. “Judging from your reaction, you’ve already made the mental connections to realize who we are. Now, if you could confirm the hypothesis that I’ve shared with my travelling companions here, it would be highly appreciated: These tanks contain humans, the final remnants of the entire human race. You were all placed on this ship in suspended animation, to follow alongside the  _ Konoha,  _ until such a time as your clone stewards found a new home upon which to continue to spread the blight of humanity’s existence. Am I correct?”

For a long moment, the young Sakura stared at Orochimaru, the fear etched on her face mounting as he pontificated. Then her expression crumpled, horror being replaced by abject despair.

“You were never meant to know. The  _ Konoha’s  _ crew would locate a new, habitable planet, with the Ark following behind at a safe distance, shielded from discovery by all of its sensors. We needed to ensure that the human race would continue, by whatever means necessary”

A thunderous silence greeted her affirmation. Hinata’s hands were folded over her mouth, her bulging eyes looking like discs of polished ivory set in her head. Naruto’s face was a mask of bewildered anger, he fists clenched with the effort of suppressing the rage burning behind his eyes. 

Sakura stepped forward, grabbed the younger her by the collar of her jumpsuit, and lifted her into the air. The woman was young, very thin, and couldn’t have weighed more than a hundred and twenty pounds, at most; for Sakura’s own trained and toned muscles, fueled even further by rage-filled adrenaline, swinging her around and slamming her against the plasteel surface of a different stasis tube was easy. Fortunately for Sakura’s own mental state, she didn’t immediately recognize the body floating within the cylinder.

“For eighty years-  _ eighty years-  _ generations of our families have been living aboard that ship, dedicating our lives to the  _ Konoha’s  _ mission to explore and settle the reaches of space. Less than two hours ago, we found out that we were the end of humanity, and now you mean to tell me that this planet wasn’t even meant to be for  _ us?  _ That all of this was us just doing your dirty work, finding all of  _ you  _ a home?” The other Sakura winced at the venom in the words flying from her counterpart’s mouth. “ _ Why did you put us on this ship? Why couldn’t you start this mission yourselves?!?” _

The words echoed through the chamber, reverberating off the hundreds of stasis cylinders. Sakura’s green eyes were alight with fury as she stared at the woman who had provided the DNA that had sired her family (She was vaguely aware that this was the first time she’d truly accepted what Orochimaru had told them.) Tears of anger were pooling in the corners of her eyes as her breathing sped up and deepened out of the exertion of her rage.

The other Sakura lowered her gaze, staring at her feet. When she spoke, her voice was almost too quiet to hear.

“We couldn’t start this mission, because then we wouldn’t see the end of it. We were selfish, and we were scared. I wish I could say something, anything, that would make it better. But I can’t.”

Sakura released her grip without warning, nearly causing the woman before her to fall to the ground again. In an instant, her anger had been squashed, being replaced by a feeling of melancholic despair. Turning to Orochimaru, she pointed back at her counterpart.

“This is what you wanted. All this time, you wanted confirmation that none of us are truly human. You’ve got what you came for, the rest of this has nothing to do with us.”

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. “That’s not strictly true, Lieutenant Uchiha, as you will soon see, but for now I must address your… I suppose grandmother would be the most appropriate term?” Turning to the other Sakura, Orochimaru bowed his head in what should have been a show of respect, but the predatory smile on his face immediately blackened the meaning of the gesture.

“I have only one more question for you, my dear, before we may take steps toward concluding our business here today. You seem to have fairly expansive knowledge of the grand designs of the humans contained within this ship, when it came to launching the  _ Konoha  _ and what would happen when you followed us to your promised land. Therefore, my question is this: What was the plan once you all woke up? What happens to your clone slaves, when our purpose is fulfilled and you have your new home?”

The silence following his question was deafening. Even Nagato had turned to study the human Sakura, his violet eyes narrowing ever so slightly at her sharp intake of breath. Orochimaru’s eyes gleamed at her reaction.

The young woman visibly struggled with the words for several seconds, eyes flicking from one  _ Konoha  _ crew member to another. Her gaze lingered on Nagato’s hand, firmly gripping his holstered spiker, before she returned to Orochimaru. Her face had gone deathly pale, but a new resolve shone in her eyes- the resolve of one who has a horrible decision to make, and has made their peace with what must happen next.

“There was something- some kind of broadcast key, something that had been developed while the majority of our scientists were perfecting our cloning. The science is well above my head, but my understanding…” She took a long, slow breath. “Is that it was a signal that would trigger a certain DNA sequence unique to the clones. It would cause a total shutdown of the brain and the entire central nervous system, all within a second or two. Immediate end of life.

“They called it the killswitch.”

A rustling noise beside him was all the warning Sasuke had to turn and grab ahold of Naruto around the chest in order to stop him from launching himself at the human Sakura. Hinata had taken two steps forward, her expression more angry than Sasuke had ever seen or would have believed, but luckily she had the self-control that her husband so direly lacked.

“ _She_ _would have killed all of us! Everyone in these tanks was ready to erase tens of thousands of people, without a second thought, just so that they could keep themselves alive for a little longer! I will RIP YOU APART MYSELF!”_ Sasuke felt Naruto’s muscles trembling; whether from exertion or emotion, he couldn’t even begin to surmise. It took every ounce of his strength to stop his best friend from rocketing at the terrified woman and making good on his threat.

“Naruto,  _ enough!  _ You have a right to be angry, we’re all angry, but she didn’t make that decision. She can’t answer for the sins of the entire human race!”

After a few more seconds of struggle, Sasuke shoved Naruto backward. He came to rest next to Hinata, and just before he could resume his attack, his wife clamped a hand firmly onto his shoulder. Disbelief washed over his face as he turned his gaze, but one look at his wife’s face quenched his white-hot ferocity. Hinata’s face was grim, and her hand shook ever so slightly from its perch on his shoulder, but her soft white eyes locked into his and silently pleaded with him- and his love for her won out. The blonde man turned his gaze back onto the young pink-haired woman, his eyes still flashing dangerously despite his inertness.

“Nothing I said was a lie. You would have killed us all, because to you we’re not people.”

Human Sakura’s face fell, and a tear ran down her cheek. “I… I’m not saying what would have happened was right. It was supposed to be easy, none of us would have ever seen any of you… But now I have, and that terrifies me, because now I see how human you are. How horrible what we’d planned to do would have been.”

Sasuke glanced at his wife, who shook her head a miniscule amount to each side.

_ She may truly be remorseful, but we can’t possibly know for sure. _

Orochimaru cleared his throat with a disgustingly wet rattling noise, and Sasuke immediately realized two things: One, the deranged scientist’s biomechanical augments were not only surface deep; and two, his health was much worse than it had first appeared. Behind all of his grandiose mannerisms and self-assured prattling about his genius, Orochimaru Hebi’s artificially-extended lifespan was running short, and he was desperately aware of that fact.

“As much as I greatly appreciate your sympathies, I’m afraid there is one more thing that we require your assistance with, Ms. Haruno.” Behind his back, Nagato raised his wrist-mounted communicator to his lips and began to mutter softly. “If you would be so kind as to guide the way, I have business on the bridge of this ship.”

* * *

Several tense minutes later, the ramshackle crew of boarders and their newest addition had reached the control room of the shuttle. Once the human Sakura had provided clearance to enter the chamber, Orochimaru stepped through the doorway, followed by his variety of captives, with his enforcer taking up the rear guard.

The bridge of this ship- what the human Sakura had called “The Ark”- was significantly smaller than that of the  _ Konoha,  _ presumably because the intent was that it would very rarely, if ever, actually be piloted. There was a pilot’s station, a co-pilot’s station, and a navigation console. The pilot console’s display was glowing softly, and glancing at the screen Sasuke saw that it was outputting the status of the ship’s pilotage link to the  _ Konoha.  _ The other monitors were all dark. Besides these consoles, the bridge was completely empty, with most of the walls being fully dedicated to exterior viewscreens. 

Orochimaru approached the pilot’s station, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. “Nagato, you made contact, correct?”

Nagato nodded, motioning toward the door. “I’ve issued them the coordinates. They should be arriving any second now, sir.” The words were hardly out of his mouth before the bridge doors had whirred open again, and Kisame, Deidara and Konan entered the room. Deidara and Konan were carrying a wide storage crate between them, each gripping a handle on one side as they carefully maneuvered it through the doorway. Behind them, Kisame was balancing his rifle in one hand, his other gripping a small, square case by a single handle fixed to the top. Sasuke’s attention was immediately drawn to the smaller case; it was made of shining black meteorite steel and had a crimson “X” of warning emblazoning the top of the box. A keypad locking mechanism adorned the front of the box, but it had clearly been forced open, the metal of the lock fused and burned with small shards of still red-hot metal dangling from a series of precise cuts dug through the small steel catch.

“Wonderful, my friends! You had a successful hunt, I take it?” Orochimaru swept toward the new arrivals, the greedy excitement on his face making his features look even more predatory than usual. Konan and Deidara placed the huge storage chest in front of him, while Kisame handed the small black crate directly to the former Prelate of Science. Orochimaru held the box for a handful of seconds, gazing down at it with an almost reverent expression, but instead of opening the lid he returned his focus to the large box.

“What results?”

Konan gestured toward the metal container. “We emptied the science storage cells of everything we could find that had any connection to synthetic human production; schematics, machinery blueprints, biometric readouts, archived documents. There’s also a handful of tissue samples and several pieces of assessment machinery, it’s all inside.”

Orochimaru clapped his hands with delight. “Nagato, you and your associates have done yourselves proud- these discoveries could not have happened without you! With access to the secrets of cloning,handed down by the progenitors themselves, we are now further than ever along our path to our eternal life!”

Sasuke stepped forward, carefully keeping his hands visible as Kisame aimed his rifle threateningly at him. “Orochimaru... Humour me. What’s in the smaller case?”

Konan’s eyes flashed as she rounded on him. “You’d like to know, wouldn’t-”

“Now, Konan” Orochimaru chided the blue-haired woman, who immediately snapped her mouth shut, the indignation on her face being replaced by wariness. “Captain Uchiha seeks knowledge, the most noble pursuit there is- we are brothers, in this respect. Without his assistance, none of the discoveries made today truly would have been possible. What sort of way to repay him would it be for me to keep those secrets?”

Orochimaru held the black steel box from below with his right hand and slowly gripped the locking mechanism with his left. Sasuke’s eyes were fixed on the crate, and he heard the rustling noise of his companions moving to flank him and see what would be revealed. Orochimaru’s face was a picture of reverence, and for possibly the first time since they’d had their confrontation in the hangar of Sector 3, Sasuke truly believed that he was in awe of what he was about to reveal.

Slowly swinging the box open, Orochimaru revealed a padded interior of deep grey foam, with a single cavity carved into the cushioning the house a small device. The piece of machinery nestled within the box resembled a datapad, but the small rectangle of plastic and circuitry was adorned with a small transmitter antenna on the left side. It was also slightly larger than a typical datapad, though the screen was the same size; a small border ran along the bottom of the screen, housing a pair of red toggle switches and a single bright orange button.

“Ladies and gentlemen… The events of this day have been in the making for decades. Long before your involvement in this journey could even be dreamed of, we formulated a plan to find Sector 7 and acquire the treasure troves of information that it would no doubt contain. However, recent developments- most notably, certain revelations granted to us by our host-” Orochimaru nodded to the human Sakura, who was standing slightly away from the rest of the group, carefully ensuring that there was at least one body between herself and Naruto at all times. “Made it clear that we had another objective on board this craft. And thus, Nagato passed on to his associates to retrieve this.” Lifting the device out of its foam cradle, Orochimaru raised it up in one hand. All eyes in the room followed its progress, as though hypnotized.

“This, my friends, is the fabled killswitch. The device that, once activated, would cause the complete bodily shutdown of every synthetic human in a planet-sized radius.”

Sasuke’s black eyes locked onto the object, clutched in Orochimaru’s waxy hand. Suddenly, the innocuous device seemed to be wreathed in a horrible, suffocating darkness. Death itself, locked within a thin wafer of plastic and circuitry.

“Orochimaru… It has to be destroyed! If that were to ever trigger, it would mean the end of  _ all of us.” _

Orochimaru favored him with a small smile. “In our current state, Captain Uchiha, you are no doubt correct. However, with the sum of my knowledge of genetic manipulation and the information we’ve liberated from this ship, I have no doubt that I will be able to reverse engineer the genome in question, and protect myself from the effects of the switch. Myself, and my associates… And if we are protected, then it ceases to be a death sentence for myself and my friends, and instead becomes a highly effective weapon should developments arise that prove to be detrimental to our interests.”

Sasuke stared at the man standing before him- his pale yellow skin, his snakelike eyes, his horrible, stretched-looking smile. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Orochimaru was not bluffing. He truly thought that he could engineer some sort of immunity for his crew from the killswitch’s effects, and if he did, he would not hesitate to end the life of every soul living aboard the  _ Konoha  _ if he felt threatened.

“You are a monster.” His wife’s voice was as hard as diamond and sharp as a razor. Rather than the fear he expected to see on Sakura’s face, her expression radiated utter disgust.

Orochimaru shrugged. “If our positions were reversed, and you were handed such an item, could you truly say that you would not seek to use it for your own ends?” He turned to the rest of his crew. “Alas, our time together is approaching an end. Nagato, contact your associates still in Sector 6 and have them ready the crew transport shuttle to receive us; we will be departing for the surface of Site III as soon as we can possibly be prepared. Konan, Deidara, return to the hangar with our cargo and load it securely.” As his three underlings nodded and swiftly left the bridge to carry out his will, Orochimaru turned to favor Kisame with a pointed glance, then turned back to the collected  _ Konoha  _ naval officers.

“And now we come to the final act- the crescendo, just before the curtain falls. A lovely Earth phrase, is it not?” Orochimaru gestured with his flesh hand, and Kisame handed him his rifle before moving toward the pilot’s console. His first few presses caused the screen to flash red, as the words “ _ PILOTAGE LINK DISENGAGED. MANUAL CONTROL OVERRIDE ACCEPTED. _ ” flashed onto the screen. Pressing a few more keys, Kisame pushed the control stick all the way forward before reaching for the ship’s thrust control and pushing it to max. 

Orochimaru’s gaze rounded back to Sasuke, and for once his face lacked its usual grim smile. “Believe me when I say that nothing about this is personal, Captain. Unfortunately, you’ve been party to far too many of my discoveries today, and if even half of what your brother has said about you is true, you possess both the intelligence and ability to cause serious damage to my future studies, and the moral compass that would drive you to do so.” 

Over his shoulder, Kisame had apparently satisfied himself with the ship’s controls, and had reached into the lining of his cloak to withdraw a compact sidearm. Levelling his aim at the console of the pilot’s station, the weapon discharged with several bright flashes of yellow light, a momentary tang of atomic discharge wafting through the air. Three shots made their way into the control bank, followed by two into the console itself, shattering the metal casings into twisted flowers of jagged, white-hot steel. All the while, the console screen continued dutifully blaring its warning message, before switching to a new, much more concerning mantra.

_ PILOTAGE LINK DISENGAGED. MANUAL CONTROL OVERRIDE ACCEPTED. _

_ COLLISION IMMINENT. RECOURSE IMMEDIATELY. _

“Alas… We stand on the edge of a reckoning, and it falls to me to take the necessary steps, to ensure the survival of all of our people. You will not thank me for doing what I must do, and I have made peace with this fact. Someday, perhaps enlightenment will bless you with its presence, and you will truly understand what has happened here today- or perhaps, it never will, and you will not. It matters little to me.”

Orochimaru smoothly made his way toward the hangar door, the gleaming instrument of metallic death he carried tracking across each of his stunned prisoners in turn. Kisame walked past him to stand in the open doorway; a further flash of light announced another handful of energy pulses being fired into the control module for the bulkhead doors.

“This ship, and its cargo, can not survive. The people in those cylinders will unmake us at the first opportunity, killswitch or no, because we pose a  _ threat  _ to their very existence. We are them, perfected, and they are not prepared to face that fact.” Orochimaru’s smile returned, just as wicked and draconic as ever. “How fitting it is, that the very station upon which they sought to contain us, the ship upon which we sailed to secure their future, will now become the stone against which I will dash their skulls. 

“For the last time, I bid you all farewell. May the Mother guide you down this final path.”

Without another word, Orochimaru and Kisame left through the bridge entryway. One steel hand reached carelessly out to tap a key on the door control panel fixed to the wall outside the bridge entrance. Sasuke launched himself across the cramped bridge toward the closing doors, but the attempt was futile. The steel doors slid shut without a sound, and then locked with the barely perceptible  _ click  _ of the internal latch.


	11. Cataclysm

Sasuke let out a guttural howl of fury. All the stress, frustration, anger and fear that he had been so carefully maintaining control over ever since Naruto had reported Hinata’s disappearance finally boiled over like an unsupervised cooking pot, the flood of emotions crashing through his carefully constructed walls of composure. He slammed his fist against the steel door so hard that he felt the bones in his fingers quiver, but as he reared back to hit the slab of metal again, a strong, rough hand latched onto his wrist and held it in place.

“Sasuke, we don’t have time. Snap out of it!”

Sasuke rounded on Naruto, an angry retort bubbling to his lips, but the outburst withered and died the moment he laid eyes on his best friend’s face. Naruto’s mouth was set in a hard line, and his entire expression bore no sign of the rage that Sasuke would have expected him to feel at the situation they now found themselves in. As he stared into the eyes of the man who he’d known all his life, the man who possibly knew him better than anyone else, Sasuke felt the red-hot bonfire of fury in his gut sputter and die. Naruto knew exactly how much pain he had to be in to lose control this way, knew that having utterly no control over his fate was something that Sasuke worked day in and day out to prevent. Naruto’s face was a picture of despair, but the blue fire in his eyes still burned; more subdued than usual, but still there. The hand clutching Sasuke’s wrist released and moved to his shoulder, squeezing briefly as if to say  _ I know, we’re in trouble. But I’ve got your back, and you’ve got mine, and we will figure this out. _

Sasuke took a deep breath and forced his mind to clear. Nodding to Naruto, he muttered “Thank you.” Turning his attention to the bridge at large, Sasuke looked from Hinata, to Sakura, to the human who had provided her genetic blueprint. Hinata’s face was nearly as pale as her eyes, her smooth skin looking as frail as porcelain, her hands clasped in front of her as she stared at the smouldering ship controls. Sakura’s jade eyes shone with fear, but her face was resolute, and he watched a small smile of relief momentarily crease her lips at the sight of her husband regaining his composure. The woman who shared her genes, meanwhile, had fallen to sit on the cold steel floor of the bridge. She was staring straight ahead, piercing green eyes locked on nothing in particular, and her stiff-backed posture radiated terror at the predicament they have been locked into.

Sasuke felt his own back straighten, not out of fear, but instead out of a long-remembered instinct of command, the presence of a leader. Sakura’s small smile widened at the sight. Captain Uchiha was back in command.

“Naruto is right, we need to move. Hinata, Sakura, I know that mechanics aren’t either of your areas of expertise, but I need both of you to tackle the entry controls. If we’re lucky, the damage will only be superficial, and you might be able to reroute some of the wiring around the breach to at least get one opening sequence out of it, to let us out.” A bit of colour had returned to Hinata’s face, and she nodded briefly as she and Sakura knelt in front of the steel portal. 

Sasuke looked at the other Sakura seated in front of the copilot’s console, considered tasking her with something for a moment, then decided against it; he knew nothing about her, had no idea whether she would just slow things down, or worse yet, impede the very slim chance they had of escaping with their lives.

“Naruto, focus on the pilot’s console. If this ship’s capabilities are anything similar to the freighters we have on board, this ship is going to barrel directly into the  _ Konoha,  _ and at a speed that’s going to cause catastrophic damage. We need to stop it, if we can.”

Naruto inhaled deeply and cracked his knuckles in anticipation of the job ahead. “And if I can’t stop it?” His tone was calm, but Sasuke didn’t miss the minute flickering of his gaze toward the human Sakura. Sasuke immediately read the meaning behind that gaze.

“If you can’t shut it down, you do everything you can to recourse it to miss the  _ Konoha.” _

At his words, the woman seated on the floor of the bridge stirred to life, turning to stare at him with a face of shock and rage.

“Wait… You can’t just send the Ark out into  _ space!  _ Everything that’s left of the human race is on this ship, you can’t just condemn them to-” As if she’d realized what she was saying, the pink-haired woman’s sentence trailed off, and a flush crept in to tint her cheeks.

“Condemn them to what? To death? The way you and your kind would have-”

“Naruto, the console,  _ now.  _ We’re running out of time.”

Naruto shot one more withering glare at thehuman Sakura, who had risen to her feet, clutching at the co-pilot’s console for support, before turning his attention to the main pilot’s workstation, poking delicately at the gaping hole that had been burned into the main control column.

Sasuke took two steps forward, placing himself directly before the frightened woman. She shuddered as she looked into his ebony eyes, but otherwise held his gaze well enough.

“I won’t argue this point with you. I have no desire to see harm come to any of the people in stasis on this ship, but I have a responsibility to the station, and to every living being on it, human or no. If we can prevent the collision and save everyone, we will. If we can only save the  _ Konoha,  _ we save the  _ Konoha. _ ”

The woman who looked so much like his wife simply stared at him, and for a moment the surreality of the situation was almost too much for him to bear, staring into those painfully familiar green eyes. Finally, he managed to tear himself away, reaching into the pocket of his tunic to retrieve his datapad.

“I’m going to contact the  _ Konoha.  _ They need to be warned.”

Keying for communications to Admiral Hatake, Sasuke prayed to Mother and any other god that would listen that the datapad’s communication range was enough to reach the  _ Konoha. _

A second passed… then two… then three…

A faint click signalled a connection being made.  _ “Captain Uchiha?” _

A surge of relief spread through Sasuke’s entire body, and his legs nearly buckled beneath him. “Admiral Hatake, I need you to listen and act quickly: Run a probability tracing cone from as near to Sector 7 as you can manage, at a wide angle facing toward the  _ Konoha’s  _ superstructure. Use the thrust profile for a mid-large frigate, from a cold startup, and keep the cone wide.”

For a split second, there was silence. Then, blessedly, rather than questions or a confused reply, Sasuke heard the faint sound of Admiral Hatake relaying his directions to the helm crew, before a rustling sound signalled that he’d returned to his communications.

_ “Sasuke, what is going on? You’ve been in the hangar for nearly two hours now, you haven’t moved an inch- have you located Lieutenant Uzumaki?” _

Sasuke took a deep breath, stifling the tiny pang of irritation he felt at Kakashi’s questions.

“We’re not in Sector 3 anymore, our DOT signals are being falsely routed there, we’re on Sector 7 itself. Kakashi, I swear to you I will explain everything later, but for now all I can spare the time to say is that Nagato’s crew has aimed Sector 7 directly at the  _ Konoha  _ and turned the engines to full _.  _ You need to determine where it might hit, evacuate the highest-risk areas, and begin severe collision procedures.”

Stunned silence greeted him from the other end of the datapad, but it was only a second or two before Kakashi’s voice returned.

“How much time do I have?”

Sasuke considered the question. “It’s hard to say, I’m not familiar with the capabilities of this class of frigate in detail- it’s very old, much older than anything in the  _ Konoha’s  _ craft load. Based on the size, and the amount of time it’s been since the engines engaged-” As he spoke, Sasuke heard the very distant sound of the engine’s startup sequence increase a few decibels. “Maybe fifteen minutes, twenty at best.”

“So we plan for fifteen.” Admiral Hatake’s voice had taken on a clipped, no-nonsense inflection. Sasuke recognized the tone, from any number of other instances where the  _ Konoha’s  _ Commanding Officer had been thrust into an uncomfortable situation and forced to work on his feet, but nothing in his term of command had even come near approaching the magnitude of the situation they now found themselves in. “I’ll dispatch an EV crew up there to collect all of you.”

“No.” The sharpness of Sasuke’s words surprised even him, for a moment, but he pushed onward anyway. “This ship could start moving any second now. There are too many lives at stake here already, we don’t need to add any more if we don’t… If they’re too late.” Mercifully, Kakashi let the unspoken meaning of his words pass by the conversation without any further contention. “There are a few small craft on board the ship, we’ll be able to find one that’s operational. We’ll make it back fine.”

This time, Kakashi’s pause was significantly longer, and in the silence Sasuke could practically see his superior standing there, his eyes awash in the pain of the choice he was being forced to make.

“Alright. We’ll have a crew on standby in Sector 3, if it’s safe, to receive you. Good luck.”

Sasuke nodded, more to reassure himself than for the benefit of anyone else. “Thank you, sir. We’ll see you very soon. Terminating communication.”

With a deep breath, Sasuke pocketed his datapad, glanced at the human Sakura out of the corner of his eye (she was pointedly looking away from him, her gaze fixed on the forward viewscreen that showed the ominous hulk of the  _ Konoha  _ stretching directly in their path) before he turned to kneel next to Naruto.

* * *

Several minutes passed in tense silence, only broken by the occasional scraping of metal on metal as some component in one reconstruction project or the other was realigned to attempt to complete the improvised repairs happening at both ends of the bridge. Sasuke was peering over Naruto’s shoulder at the blonde man’s hands fiddling with a small green wire, attempting to prise it loose from the metal hooks fixing it in place, when he heard a gasp from behind him, followed by the unmistakable  _ whirring  _ noise of a bulkhead moving.

Whirling around so fast he felt his neck crack, Sasuke saw the entryway door to the hangar slide open. Sakura fell backward from her crouching position in front of the control panel, hands clasped over her mouth, eyes screwed tightly shut in an effort to suppress the outpouring of emotional relief that nearly overwhelmed her. Hinata turned and rushed over to Naruto, throwing her arms around his shoulders with a strangled gasp before remembering that he was still attempting to reroute the ship’s course, then she let go sheepishly. Naruto looked over his shoulder very briefly, flashing her a reassuring smile before returning to his work. “Great job, my love!”

“Sakura, Hinata, well done!” Sasuke grabbed Sakura around the waist and drew her close, feeling her shudder against him as she let out a deep breath. “Naruto, how are the controls looking?”

Naruto didn’t turn, keeping his focus locked to the inner workings of the control column as he responded. “I think I’m close… The throttle controls weren’t hit all that hard, I’ve managed to rein in the power to the engines quite a bit, but the forward sequence is still engaged and the control circuit is in much worse shape. It might take another few minutes.”

Hinata looked at him worriedly. “Dear, we might not have another few minutes… We have no idea how long it’s going to take to get one of the crafts in the hangar working- do we?” She turned her gaze on the human Sakura, who shook her head minutely and gave a small shrug.

Naruto nodded absentmindedly. 

“Sasuke, take everyone else down to the hangar and find us a way out, get a ship prepared. I’ll try a little bit longer to reroute this course, and if I can’t, I’ll meet you down there.”

Hinata’s eyes blazed at the suggestion, and Sasuke quickly spoke up. “Out of the question. We can’t take that risk, Naruto, we need to go  _ now.” _

Naruto turned again, this time locking eyes with Sasuke. “Whatever Admiral Hatake is doing down there, you and I both know that it can’t possibly be enough. He can evacuate the most high-risk areas, but a ship this size colliding with the  _ Konoha  _ is going to have a catastrophic effect on the entire station. I need to stop this ship. I  _ will  _ stop this ship. You have to trust me.”

Sasuke stared at his best friend, feeling time slow to a crawl around him. Of course he trusted Naruto. He trusted him with his life, and always would. But now, he was forced to choose between the safety of the man who he would do anything for, the safety of who knew how many people aboard the  _ Konoha.  _ People who he had sworn an oath to protect, to serve, and to lead.

He’d been forced to make some difficult choices during his time in the  _ Konoha’s  _ navy, there was no doubt of that. Now, it seemed that the Mother had conspired to deliver to him the most agonizing choice of all. 

Sasuke grabbed his best friend’s shoulder and stared him dead in the eyes, piercing black boring into bright blue. “Swear to me-  _ swear-  _ That you’ll come down. As soon as this ship starts moving, you disengage and you come to us.”

Before Naruto could reply, Hinata grabbed him by the shoulders and swung him around to face her. Tears had begun to gather in the corner of her pale ivory eyes, but her face was a picture of confused anger.

“Naruto, you  _ have  _ to come with us. If you stay up here, and something goes wrong- If you don’t- All because you came to find me-” Hinata’s thoughts threatened to choke her as they all rushed to her mouth at once, but Naruto simply cut them off by leaning in and kissing her deeply. After several seconds, he broke the contact. The tears were flowing unchecked now, and her eyes were not the only ones that were wet.

“My love, I have to try. It’s my duty.”

Hinata uttered one choking sob, a sound of utter, heart-wrenching despair, then hugged him tightly. Into his ear, she whispered the last words she would ever speak to him:

“Promise that you’ll come back to me.”

Naruto smiled, his blue eyes shining with tears. 

“I promise.”

With difficulty, Hinata rose from her crouched position on the floor. Sakura and Sasuke had moved a respectful distance away, ready to exit through the bulkhead. Sasuke glanced over at the human Sakura, who hadn’t moved from her position at the co-pilot’s station.

“Whatever you do next, is your choice. We’re heading to the hangar. I won’t stop you if you decide to come along.”

The young woman bit her lip and stared at him, conflict etched clearly across her face. Then, without another word, she rushed out the bridge door and dashed down the hallway, in the opposite direction to the hangar.

“That’s that, then.” Sasuke took a deep breath. “Sakura, Hinata, let’s go find ourselves a ship. Naruto… good luck.”

Naruto saluted quickly with his free hand, the other already buried in the pilot’s control panel. Sasuke returned the salute, then forced himself to turn away, leading the two women out of the bridge.

* * *

The trip back to the hangar was uneventful. As they passed through the bay containing the stasis pods, Sakura stopped and stared wistfully at one for a few minutes, but Hinata quickly voiced what they were all thinking.

“They wouldn’t wake up fast enough. All we can do is hope Naruto is able to stop the collision. That’s their only chance.”

Otherwise, they reached the hangar without incident. To the surprise of no one, the ship they’d been brought on board from the  _ Konoha  _ was nowhere to be seen, and so the three naval officers began scouring the handful of scattered ships that remained, looking for something at least somewhat familiar appeared to be in good working order. Fortunately, it appeared that a combination of rigorous climate control and some small maintenance robots that still trundled around the wide space had kept most of the crafts in excellent shape, and it wasn’t long before they found one that at least bore some resemblance to a transport shuttle that all three had piloted before. 

Sakura immediately moved to the cockpit of the ship to begin keying the engines, while Sasuke and Hinata waited at the open aft door of the craft. Hinata distractedly checked the time on her datapad; she’d done it at least seven times, since they’d left the bridge.

A dull, distant roaring sound made both of them jump, and the deck beneath them began to shudder. Hinata shot him a panicked look. Those two things happening in such close proximity meant only one thing: Sector 7 had begun to move.

Barely ten seconds after they’d been alerted to the change, the far hangar door slid open. Sasuke’s heart leaped into his throat, and Hinata let out a strangled gasp, before they both saw pink hair flying behind the figure as she ran toward them. 

The human Sakura skidded to a halt in front of them and leaned forward to place her hands on her thighs, panting. Hinata didn’t bother to hide her disdain as she stared at the young woman. Looking anxiously from Hinata to Sasuke, the human Sakura opened her mouth to speak, let her lower jax hang there for a second, then closed it again before climbing aboard the shuttle. 

Sasuke glanced out of the hangar, past the shimmering distortion of the force field protecting them for the vacuum of space, and felt a horrified jolt pass through him. Using the motion of the stars against their black backdrop, he was able to make a rough judgement of the speed at which Sector 7 was moving. 

And it was moving far faster than he’d anticipated.

“Hinata.” There was no response from the violet-haired woman beside him. Sasuke reached out and grabbed her wrist. “Hinata, we need to take off!”

Hinata wrenched her hand out of his grasp and stared at him. The pain on her face radiated like a star, and he felt a shard of sympathetic despair pierce his chest like a knife.

“We can’t! He’ll be on his way, we can’t leave him!”

“Hinata, the ship is moving too fast! If we don’t take off now, we won’t make it!”

With startling speed, the woman leaped down from the deck of the shuttle and moved to run toward the bridge door. It was only on instinct alone that he managed the leap after her and grab her around the chest, halting her in her tracks. She was openly sobbing now, screaming into the echoing space of the hangar.

“Let  _ go of me! Naruto! NARUTO!” _

“Hinata, we need to  _ go!”  _ Through the dull haze of panic clouding his senses, Sasuke felt tears tracking down his own cheeks. For a terrifying moment, he felt his grip slip, and was certain he would lose her too. Then, a second pair of hands latched onto Hinata’s shoulders and began pulling toward the open bay door of the shuttle.

Looking to his left through eyes clouded with tears, Sasuke saw that Sakura had jumped down and come to his aid in getting Hinata back aboard the shuttle. The two of them manhandled the crying woman aboard, Sasuke reaching out to slam the hatch close panel behind them as they boarded. Only once they were on the shuttle did he realize that it hadn’t been Sakura who’d helped him, it’d been the human woman.

“Sakura,  _ GO!!! _ ” Sasuke roared toward the cockpit. Hinata had slid to the floor of the shuttle and was now pounding her hands against the steel of the bay door, crying hysterically. Sasuke tried to kneel down next to her, but she lashed out, her sharp fingernails digging tracks through his skin. Flinching and rubbing a hand across his face, Sasuke straightened and looked at the human woman who had just helped him save Hinata’s life. She looked back at him apprehensively.

“What is your name? I don’t think you ever told us.”

The young woman looked surprised at the question. For a moment, she didn’t reply, and the only sound in the crew hold was the sound of Hinata’s weeping. Then she awkwardly extended her hand

“I’m… My name is Kara. Kara Haruno.”

Sasuke nodded, taking her offered hand and shaking it. “Thank you, Kara.”

Without another word, the young woman sat down on one of the low benches running the length of the chamber. For the first time since they’d removed her from stasis, Sasuke saw the faint traces of a genuine smile curl the corners of her mouth.

The black-haired Chief Consul of the  _ Konoha  _ knelt down next to Hinata again. This time, no attack emerged, and instead the grief-stricken woman pressed her face into his shoulder, shaking as she cried into his tunic. Sasuke wrapped his arms tightly around Hinata Uzumaki, feeling her sobs vibrate through his body.

* * *

On the  _ Konoha’s  _ bridge, Boruto suddenly became aware of a shift in the conversation surrounding him. 

“Is that… What is that?!”

“It’s a distortion in the cloaking field around Sector 7! Commander, whatever it is, it’s  _ moving! _ ”

Boruto’s gaze whipped upward to look at the bridge’s main viewscreen, horror mounting as he saw the rippling effect that the helm crew were talking about. It was moving quickly, bearing directly down onto a section of the  _ Konoha  _ to the rear of the port side.

“Commander Yamanaka, have the evacuations been completed?” Admiral Hatake’s typically laconic voice rang out, almost unrecognizable in its volume and brevity.

“They’re still moving, sir… The object is headed toward one of the main Agriculture fields. We’re evacuating all of Sector 4 as a precaution, but there are so many people there…”

Boruto saw Admiral Hatake reply, but his words were snatched away in the eruption of voices that had filled the bridge. Turning to Sarada, Boruto was about to offer her whatever reassurance he could when he heard the metallic chiming sounds that indicated an incoming communication on his datapad.

Boruto withdrew the thin electronic device from his pocket, and looked at the name on the display. He looked at it for a long time.

_ Incoming Communication: DAD _

He glanced up at Sarada, who took one look at the display of his datapad, then turned to the viewscreen showing the rapidly approaching anomaly that marked Sector 7. “Boruto… You have to talk to him.”

Boruto swallowed dryly. He knew she was right, but that didn’t make what was about to happen any easier.

Turning away, Boruto hurried across the bridge to exit through the double sliding doors. As the bulkhead closed behind him, the sound of conversation from the chamber cut off abruptly, providing him with much needed silence.

Taking a deep breath, he tapped the screen.

_ Accept Communication _

“Dad?”

_ “Boruto, thank the Mother… Thank you for answering.” _

Immediately, a spike of fear drove through Boruto’s heart at the tone of his father’s voice. Something was horribly wrong.

“Dad, what is it? Is it mum? Is she-”

_ “No, she’s safe, we found her. Sasuke is bringing her back now, she’s completely alright.” _

The wave of relief that washed over Boruto at his father’s words was short-lived, crumbling to dust as he digested the rest of the sentence.

“What do you mean, Captain Uchiha is bringing her back? Dad, where are you?”

The pause following his words was long- too long. Realization exploded into Boruto’s mind like a plasma charge.

_ ‘Boruto, listen to me. There isn’t much time left. _

_ “I know that you’re still angry with me for what I did, for how I lied to you. I don’t blame you, it was a terrible thing for me to do to my children. But you know I love you both, and I love your mother, more than anything in the universe. All I wanted was for all of you to be safe. _

_ “Boruto… I’m on board Sector 7. I’ve been trying to stop it from hitting the  _ Konoha _ … But I don’t think I’ll be able to do it. I can feel the ship moving now, and it’s moving fast, even with the power I managed to siphon off.” _

Boruto felt tears gathering in his eyes. A lump had swelled in his throat, blocking every attempt he made to speak into the datapad.

_ “Your mom is on her way home, right now, if everything went to plan. She’ll need you and Hiwamari, for what’s to come, just as much as you’ll need her.”  _ The sound of his father’s voice began to crackle with interference.  _ “Be strong for each other. _

_ “Boruto, I hope you can find it in yourself to forgive me for lying to you.” _

“Dad, stop it! Of course I forgive you, now get off that ship!” Boruto’s voice was rising in pitch, hysteria beginning to creep into every word he spoke. 

A dry, humourless chuckle sounded through the datapad.  _ “Son… I wish I could. Do you remember the oath you swore, the day you left the Academy? The one that I swore, and your mother, and every other  _ Konoha  _ naval member?” _

Boruto swallowed. When he spoke, his voice was mechanical, and every fibre of his being hated himself for it. 

“In the light of the stars, under the eyes of the Mother, I do so swear to serve the people of the  _ Konoha,  _ from this day until the day my mission is ended.”

His father’s voice had begun to sound breathless, as though he were exerting himself.  _ “This is our mission, son. I couldn’t stop what’s coming, but I might have slowed it down, and that’s enough. If even one… person… aboard that station survives because of what I did here today, then it was all worth it. That’s all I can hope for.” _

Boruto’s face was awash with tears. He could hardly see the datapad through them.

“Dad… Please, don’t…”

_ “Take good care of your sister and mother, Boruto. Go down to Site III, all three of you, and breathe real, natural air. Feel the land beneath your feet, see the plants, the animals, the water, the sky. Enjoy every second of it. Can you do that for me?” _

“Yes.” It took every ounce of Boruto’s willpower to push out the single word.

_ “Good. I love you, son. _

_ “Goodbye.” _

The connection abruptly closed. Boruto felt his fingers go numb, was vaguely aware of his datapad sliding from his grasp to hit the steel floor. The small electronic device shattered on contact with the hard metal.

Then the world shook, and a horrible screeching sound echoed from a point somewhere behind him. The floor beneath his feet seemed to pitch to the side, and the young man was thrown against the wall of the hallway. His head met the steel plate with a sickening thud, and darkness took him.


	12. Before the Fall

In the decades that followed, many who had lived aboard the station would regale enthralled listeners with the story of the catastrophe that spelled the end of the mission of the _Konoha,_ but not a soul could claim to have seen the full devastation wrought by the collision. A select few members of the bridge crew, with access to exterior camera feeds pointed in the direction of the carnage, had disjointed views of the damage from one angle or another, but the full picture of what happened that day would only eventually be reconstructed through the marriage of exhaustive simulations of the moment of impact, analysis of the damage after the fact, and a not insignificant amount of guesswork.

But that knowledge came later, once the time for grief had passed.

Sasuke stumbled out of the hatch of the cruiser that had just barely managed to carry the small contingent of _Konoha_ crew to safety, then sank to his knees on the steel hangar floor. The aftershocks of Sector 7's collision with the station had faded away, but he paid no heed to his surroundings. Sasuke's eyes were screwed shut, his face twisted into a grimace of exquisite agony. He was vaguely aware of Hinata's hysterical cries from behind him, and the metallic sound of hurried footsteps toward the shuttle, but all of the sounds were so far away, muffled by the suffocating haze that had descended upon his mind. Every ounce of his willpower was being poured into attempting to maintain his cracking facade, and it was nowhere near enough. A shuddering gasp escaped his compressed lips as tears began to trickle out of the corners of his eyes.

Sakura had stepped out of the shuttle after Hinata and Sasuke. She hesitated for a split second, her gaze flicking from one to the other, from her longtime friend to the love of her life, both in such terrible pain. After a brief consideration she knelt down next to Hinata, wrapping her arms around the other woman's shuddering form. Tears had begun to flow openly down Sakura's face as well, and she found her grip was so instinctively tight that she had to loosen slightly for fear of hurting her sobbing friend.

The sound of approaching footsteps drawing to a stop made her look up, wiping her eyes with the back of one hand to clear the tears blurring her vision. Kakashi, Shikamaru, and a handful of crew members she didn't recognize had arrived. Kakashi took one look at the trio of figures huddled before him, and she saw his eyes change. The expression that darkened his face as realization hit him sent a fresh wave of tears rushing to her eyes, but she swallowed shakily and forced herself to straighten. Shikamaru rushed forward to take her place, kneeling down to lay a comforting hand on Hinata's back.

"He didn't get off the ship." The declaration hung there, permanent, terrible, poisoning the very air they breathed like a toxic cloud. She briefly saw Shikamaru's eyes close at her words, but her vision was laser-focused on her Commanding Officer.

Kakashi stared at her for a moment, saying nothing. Then, without warning, he took a step forward and smashed his fist into the side of the cruiser with a sickening, fleshy _thud._ Withdrawing his bloody hand, he spoke to the crew he'd brought without turning away from the vessel's steel fuselage.

"Organize an exo detail. Approach the impact site, assess the damage from the outside, remove as much of the debris as possible… and most importantly, find Petty Officer Uzumaki." The sound of her husband's voice caused a fresh outpouring of wails from Hinata, who sank even further to lay on the hangar floor. Kakashi finally turned back, and Sakura felt torn to pieces by the blackness in his eyes.

"Sir, I understand that you'll need a report on what happened up there. I'd like to request…" Sakura took a deep breath to steady herself, freshly aware of a wave of bile that threatened to wash into her throat. "I'd like to request that you allow me to brief you on what happened." She glanced down at Sasuke as she spoke, and Kakashi followed her gaze.

Sasuke hadn't reacted to anything that had happened since they'd returned to the station. His mind was completely overloaded, every sensory organ in his body seemed to be overclocked to their limits. The characteristic sounds and smells of the hangar, so familiar to him, were strange, alien, frightening in how utterly _powerful_ they felt.

And cutting through it all, the truth pounded through every synapse in his brain.

_Naruto is dead. And it is your fault._

_If you'd stopped to think, even for a second, and came up with a better plan. It's your fault that he came down to the hangar, it's your fault that you all ended up on that damned ship._

_It's your fault that he's gone._

Snatches of conversation from the crew surrounding him began to pierce the fog he was floating in, slowly increasing in volume as he managed to pull some semblance of his focus back to the here and now.

"...several things that need to be done, and immediately…"

"...isn't as bad as it could have been, but it's mainly to the agricultural section…"

"...crews are making their way there, but the damage is making it difficult to..."

_How did they know?_

The thought struck him like a bolt of lightning, and he paused as he considered it.

_How did Orochimaru's group know we'd found it, so quickly? They pulled their trigger less than 30 minutes after I sent that probe from the bridge._

_Somehow, they were getting information from the helm of the ship. Something, or someone, was listening. Some-_

Sasuke froze as the answer found him. Blood roared past his ears as the truth crashed into him like a runaway freighter. His breath came in short gasps.

Sasuke dragged himself to his feet. Sakura immediately moved next to him, concerned, but his attention was far away. Without another word, he began making his way toward the exit hatch from the hangar, stumbling slightly with each step.

"Captain Uchiha? Sasuke, what are you…?" Kakashi took a step to follow him, but a small hand on his forearm gave him pause. Turning, he locked eyes with Sakura. The woman's jade-green orbs were filled with deep sadness, but her expression displayed a firm resolve as she shook her head minutely.

"He's not hurt. He needs time to process everything. Sir, there's something else… Something much more pressing, that needs your attention. And the fewer people see it, the better."

Kakashi ground his teeth behind his mask. "Sakura… I've had enough of keeping secrets. Secrets nearly destroyed this ship, and everything on it."

A quiet sigh sounded from her lips. "I know, Kakashi." At the sound of his first name from her, the commander of the _Konoha_ calmed visibly. "But at least for now, this _needs_ to be handled discreetly. Come aboard the shuttle, and I'll tell you everything you need to know."

Kakashi considered her words. Suddenly he was desperately, witheringly tired; tired of deception, tired of tragedy, tired of every life on the station being so fundamentally tied to his every decision, and just tired.

"Alright. I'll dismiss the rest of the crewers to their taskings, and then we'll talk."

Sakura's shoulders slumped with relief. Behind them, Hinata's agonized cries had subsided to quiet sobs. Shikamaru was talking quietly to her; Sakura caught "...minor head injury during the crash. Hiwamari and Sarada…" before she returned her attention to Kakashi. The pair started toward the hatch of the cruiser.

"So… What exactly is it that you have in here?"

"Well… 'What' isn't exactly the right question.

* * *

The usual barely-organized cacophony of the maintenance section could be briefly heard every few seconds as a loud noise managed to penetrate the improvised steel walls of the chamber, but for the most part, the hideout that had, until recently housed Nagato's organization was as quiet as it had ever been.

He never would have admitted it, but it unnerved Itachi ever so slightly to stand in the crowded space and hear so little activity.

The clearing at the wall of the dome that housed the crew's lounge area- the same space that he and his associates had had their fateful meeting with his brother, days that felt like years ago- was mostly untouched, but it was the only section of the chamber that could boast such a claim. The entire rest of the space had been picked clean; the maze of storage crates and shelving units that had groaned under the weight of thousands of pounds of contraband had been reduced to a scattered arrangement of empty lockers and a few forgotten pieces of plunder. The emptiness of the room lent an echo to every slight sound Itachi made, elevating the eeriness of the space tenfold.

A cavernous steel tomb, emptied of all value that morning in preparation for Orochimaru's planned exodus from the _Konoha_ to the surface of the planet below. By now, the contents of the warehouse would be long on their way planetside.

Itachi had felt the massive quaking of the station about an hour previously, and he knew exactly what it meant. Nagato, Konan, and the rest of the crew- the people he'd come to call acquaintances, if not quite properly friends- were long gone, for good, and they'd sent millions of tons of steel hurtling toward a million people. All in fulfillment of the wishes of a madman.

He could only hope that Sasuke and the others had made it back safely.

Taking one last look around the space, Itachi began carefully weaving his way through the forlorn-looking empty shelves toward the entrance to the dome with a fluid grace of movement that betrayed his long years of experience navigating the cramped quarters. Like everything else he did, there was an elegance to his traversal, and usually that gave him a quiet satisfaction. Not today.

Itachi let out a long sigh as he exited through the makeshift double doors into the wide space of the hangar-turned-community beyond.

A cold ring of steel pressed itself against the back of his neck, and a rustling sound alerted him to motion from his right side.

"Itachi. You missed your flight."

The realization of his brother's presence sent an eruption of emotions flooding through his mind. First and foremost, a hissing anger at himself for his inattentiveness; no one, not even Sasuke, should have been able to so completely get the drop on him. He'd let himself fall into melancholy, had lost his myriad focus on his surroundings for just long enough. Those kinds of mistakes got people killed in Sector 6.

Once the flare of irritation had subsided, his next feeling was a quiet relief. Sasuke might be here with a weapon pressed to his head, but he was here, and he was alive. Of all the sins he'd committed against his blood, he hadn't crossed that final line.

However, both of those responses were short-lived, obliterated by the third and all-encompassing reaction: Fear.

In all his life, Itachi had never heard a voice so laced with contempt, anguish, and murderous rage. Not from Nagato, not from Orochimaru, not from anyone in the whole of his existence had he ever heard the kind of targeted vitriol that his brother's quiet voice conveyed.

Slowly raising his hands, Itachi turned to face the ambush. Sasuke was standing just in the shadow of the door to Nagato's warehouse, a black leather cloak drawn around his shoulders, the hood pulled up so that the shadows partially obscured his face. One hand clenched his service sidearm, trained directly between Itachi's eyes, while the other remained beneath the folds of his cloak. Sasuke's posture was wire-tight, every muscle in his body tensed to their limits. His black eyes glittered dangerously from beneath the shiny material of his hood.

"Had a falling out?"

Itachi forced himself to meet his brother's eyes, centering himself. "Sasuke. It's good to see that you're safe."

Sasuke flinched at his words, and understanding came to Itachi in a flash of insight.

_He came back safe… But someone else didn't. Sasuke, I am so sorry._

"Naruto is dead." Sasuke ignored what he'd said completely, his own words barreling out of his mouth, driven by the frenzied speed of complete anguish. "We investigated Hinata's DOT, brought him with us… It was all a trap. But then, you knew that, didn't you? You didn't come along, because you were afraid of what the eventual result would be. You wanted to absolve yourself, to feel like you were blameless of what came next."

With a rustling sound, Sasuke's free hand withdrew from his cloak, and he extended it toward his brother. Something silvery shone there, dangling below his outstretched palm. Itachi knew what it was before his brother's hand had even moved, but he forced himself to look anyway.

There was no escaping reckoning. Not this time.

The necklace he'd left for Sarada hung from Sasuke's entwined fingers, gleaming even in the relatively dull light of the maintenance chamber. It had been crushed, by what looked like a great weight- a few sad strands of circuitry dangled from the gaping lesions in the surface of the delicate metal.

"Here's your blame, brother. You bugged my daughter, because of where she was stationed , so that Orochimaru would have constant word from the bridge- and by extension, from me. You knew that if any major developments were to arise, that if Sector 7 was found, there was an excellent chance that Sarada would be on the bridge when the revelation came.

"You used me. You used your own family, your flesh and blood, to cater to the whims of a murderous lunatic.

" _And now Naruto is dead! The kindest, most dedicated, most caring man I knew is_ dead! _You took him from his wife, his children, and from me!"_

The echoes of the words rang against the hard steel walls. The few scattered maintenance workers within earshot looked up curiously at the outburst, saw who was involved, and quickly moved to be anywhere else.

Sasuke broke the deafening silence. This time, there was no malice in his voice, no poisonous hate. His tone was flat and lifeless.

"Give me a reason, any reason, why I should ever forgive you for this."

Itachi closed his eyes. Somehow, of it all, that last statement hurt the most. Because this was his little brother talking, and the horrifying, heartbreaking truth of the matter was that it wasn't just an empty statement.

Sasuke _wanted_ to forgive him, no matter the horrible things he'd done, because he was his brother.

"Sasuke… Listen to me, and listen very clearly. I am not worth forgiveness. I will tell you why I did what I did- why I caused so much pain- but I want you to give me your word that you will _not_ absolve me, because I do not deserve it."

Sasuke said nothing, but the slightest hint of confusion began to shine in his cold black eyes.

"I knew what I was doing, the second Orochimaru approached me and asked me to plant that device. I knew that I was crossing a line that could never be uncrossed, and I knew that I could very well be causing unspeakable pain, to innocent people who did not deserve it, and possibly even to those among the navy who I still count as friends- for there are still those I do, even though I know that the feeling is not mutual.

"And I could have said no. Orochimaru was a murderer, and utterly unhinged, there isn't any question about that. But I could have declined, and though it would have meant the end of my time with Nagato's crew, I still could have refused the whole business.

"But I didn't, and do you knot why? I agreed, to protect you."

Sasuke's face was unreadable.

"When Orochimaru approached me with his scheme, and asked me to stomp out what tiny bit of loyalty I still had to my blood, I told him that I would do as he asked- but on one condition. That if I were to do this, to commit this final sin, that he would ensure that no matter what happened, no matter where his crimes would lead him, that no harm would come to you."

Sasuke laughed. It was a terrible, humourless laugh, more akin to the sound of a heavy sheet of metal splintering than to an actual human being's mirth. His black eyes locked to his brother's.

"Then you're a fool. Orochimaru might have agreed to your terms, but the moment you were out of earshot he took the oath he'd made to you and spit on it. He left all of us aboard Sector 7 to die, and would have happily watched it happen if he could have done so."

Itachi didn't respond. Sasuke watched with a combination of bitter satisfaction and twisting pity as his brother's carefully composed expression of passive neutrality slipped, his face falling into anguish for a split second before he rushed to slap the mask back on.

"If you thought even for a second that that man cared about you, or anything you wanted, you aren't the man I thought you were.

"Once all of this is said and done, the population will be heading planetward to settle. You'll be given the exact same opportunity that everyone else in Sector 6 will be given: a habitation module and enough stores to sustain you, and to begin a new life of your own. I suggest you take it.

"You wanted no forgiveness? I'll do you one better: If I ever see you again, on Site III or anywhere else, I promise you that I will kill you where you stand."

Itachi bowed his head. When he looked back up, black eyes boring into eyes so much like his own, Sasuke felt a dull ripple of shock to see moisture gathering in the corners of their sockets.

"If you ever see me again, I will welcome it."

Then, without another word, he turned and strode away, heading away from the dome-shaped warehouse toward one of the exit bulkheads from the chamber. The sliding doors opened to admit him, closed behind him with a faint hint of protesting hydraulics.

Sasuke never saw him again, and he would thank the Mother many times for it.

* * *

Kakashi's head dropped to his desk. His eyelids felt like they were made of liquid lead, but he forced himself to turn and crack one eye open to stare at the time display the glowed a pale green in the corner of the viewscreen on the opposite wall.

_0232 hrs Ship's time._

A quiet grunt escaped the lips of the _Konoha's_ Commanding Officer. Sakura had explained everything to him aboard the shuttle that they'd brought back with them from the mysterious shuttle whose pieces were now scattered throughout the orbit path of the station. When she'd called into the crew hold, and Kakashi had seen the young woman who emerged, his legs had nearly given way beneath him; that had been one final shock too many.

He'd sat in the pilot's seat in the cockpit, stunned, as Sakura and the woman who was, he supposed, technically her ancestor, had explained the final truth behind Sector 7. The mission's true purpose, the secret existence of the human contingent aboard the shuttle, the revelation of the heritage of the population of the _Konoha._

It was all too much to take in. He hadn't even been given a chance to process the death of his old student, one of his oldest friends. And now, every single aspect of his entire existence had suddenly been flipped completely on its head.

He'd retired to the bridge, making his way directly to his office, not stopping for anything or anyone on his way there. Inoichi had looked questioningly in his direction when he'd entered through the bulkhead, but one glance at the look on his face, even mostly hidden by his mask, had told the extremely perceptive man everything he'd needed to know, and he'd kept his distance.

Now he was sitting at his desk, trying his best to process the multitude of thoughts tramping through his mind like an oppressive marching band. He was almost relieved when the entrance alert chimed from the doorway, announcing someone attempting to gain entry. He straightened his back to regain some semblance of professionalism before keying the door open from his desk.

Neji Hyuuga stepped into the office, the door sliding quietly shut behind him. He offered Kakashi a crisp salute, but the older man's extremely perceptive eyes didn't miss the trembling of his hands as he did so. Kakashi returned the salute before motioning to the chair in front of his desk; Neji only shook his head and remained standing.

"Sir, we've located Petty Officer Uzumaki's remains."

Kakashi felt his heart sink at the announcement. It was several orders of magnitude better than the alternative, where Naruto was never recovered, but it didn't make the moment any easier to process. No matter how logical he may be, he couldn't help the tiny part of his mind that had clung to a stubborn, impossible hope that they'd somehow find the man out there, clinging to life somehow.

"I see… Thank you, Lieutenant. I'll speak to Commander Yamanaka about preparations for a funeral service, as soon as we can."

Neji swallowed audibly, and Kakashi could see him working through his next words. He'd never seen the young Prelate of Helm this agitated, and his heart went out to him in that moment.

"Sir, if I may…" Neji trailed off, his gaze sliding to a point somewhere over Kakashi's shoulder. Kakashi waited patiently, allowing him to collect himself, until the pale eyes refocused onto his face, his face schooling itself into an expression of sad determination.

"Admiral Hatake, I would like to deliver the news to Lieutenant Uzumaki. Please."

Kakashi nodded immediately. "Of course, Neji. I wouldn't have it any other way." He saw the young man relax at his words, his eyes sliding closed in a visible effort to maintain his composure.

"Thank you, Sir. That said, we have a much more pressing problem."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"The Engineering Cell has completed a preliminary assessment of the station's core functions, following the crash. Most of the systems aboard the _Konoha_ are still operating with mostly complete proficiency, and those that aren't are at least functional enough to continue operations. The problem is the _Konoha_ itself… The collision significantly impacted the trajectory of the station. Our orbit pattern is no longer stable.

"Initial predictions are predicting that there's a very strong possibility that we can expect the change in pathing to end with us colliding with Site III."

The words had a crushing finality to them. Kakashi would have expected to feel fear, or confusion, or indecisiveness at such a proclamation of doom. But, strangely enough, none of those feelings emerged. In the rush of everything else that had happened in the last day, with everything swirling through his brain, this news brought a sudden and unexpected clarity to Kakashi's mind. This, at least, was a foe he could fight. This was something that he could take action against.

"Thank you, Lieutenant Hyuuga. I am relieving you of your duties for the entirety of tomorrow, in order to deliver the news of Lieutenant Uzumaki's passing." He paused, and his eyes found Neji's pale ones, projecting what he hoped was a silent wave of compassion and understanding. "Be there for her, Neji. Be the foundation she'll so sorely need right now."

Neji nodded, maintaining his stone-faced composure with visible difficulty. "And the station, sir?"

For just a brief moment, Kakashi felt the weight of the entire history of the _Konoha_ settle on his shoulders. Eighty-two years of exploration, all culminating here and now. Whatever decision he made here would close the book on this chapter of the station's life cycle- and he now knew, following his debrief with Sakura, it would mean so much more than that.

In the end, the choice was simple. It was the only choice, when it came down to it.

"For the moment, I'll prepare a statement, to be broadcast to the entirety of the station. The time for lies and secrecy is at an end." As he spoke, Kakashi felt the slightest twinge of guilt at the realization that, even now, he was lying to Neji. He would tell his people the truth, and the entire truth… With the exception of the devastating revelations Sakura and Kara had shared with him about the true fate of the human race.

He promised himself that he would tell them in due time, but that announcement would take significantly more time to craft in order to be delivered properly.

"Lieutenant Hyuuga, send word to all naval cells: Tomorrow morning, we begin planetfall procedures.

"It's time to go home."

* * *

As the next ship's morning dawned, the mostly-sleepless residents of the _Konoha_ awoke from fitful rest to a changed world. Few, if anyone, on board the station was ignorant of the seismic impact that had shook their entire world the night before. News of the specific details of the incident were scarce, but nonetheless spread like wildfire throughout the crew and civilians aboard the ship. Most of the population of the _Konoha_ returned to their day-to-day with a somber, grim atmosphere of uncertainty permeating every corridor and corner of the station's inner workings. The naval crew who had been tasked with recovery and reorganization dutifully thrust themselves into the long, slow process that lay ahead of them.

Kakashi Hatake, meanwhile, had not left his office. He had been awake for nearly nineteen hours at this point, and yet sleep dared not trouble him, almost as though his body knew the importance of the errand he now found himself on. Soon, he knew, his faculties would require some artificial stimulus as help to maintain his consciousness, and a tube of stimulant gel sat waiting on the edge of his desk.

As the shimmering clock display on his office's main viewscreen ticked over to 1000 hrs ship's time, he took a deep breath, then engaged broadcast systems to the entirety of the station. After a few seconds of undetectable electronic activity, a soft green light ignited on the border of the screen to indicate that transmission had begun.

And so, he began to speak.

"Men and women of the _Konoha._ " He began.

* * *

All across the station, every viewscreen, every datapad, every transmitting video device that was not identified as critical viewing had flashed an indicator of an incoming broadcast, before changing into an image of the masked face, shoulders and torso of the Commanding Officer of the _Konoha._ Admiral Kakashi Hatake stared out at the population of the ship that he had sworn to hold office to protect and to serve, and the people, in turn, collectively held their breath in anticipation of what he would say.

In the bridge, the helm crew glanced up from their stations as often as possible to hear the words emanating from the office at the rear of their workplace. Sarada Uchiha, the acting Prelate while Neji was absent, latched on to every single word.

" _As many of you have now heard, and no doubt most of you at least have some awareness of: Last ship's night, at approximately 0200 hrs, a huge object made contact with the_ Konoha, _causing severe impact tremors and causing sustained damage to the station's exterior, and to certain interior components, most notably the agricultural sections of Sector 4."_

At Akimichi Agriculture, Choji Akimichi barely paid the broadcasts any heed as he yelled directions at hordes of laborers, scrambling from one place to another carrying farming equipment, seeds, and produce. The north field's bulkhead was sealed, the surface hurriedly marked with a splash of fluorescent red paint in a smeared symbol indicating hull failure beyond.

Choji grimaced, every time he glanced at those doors. 38% of the station's entire sustenance growth capacity, all lost to the vacuum of space.

" _Let me be immediately clear: The damage to the station was immense, but not catastrophic. There is no immediate significant danger to the population of the station. The engineering section performed their duties without fear and with great efficiency, sealing off the compromised sections of the station and ensuring that all vital systems are still operating at least within acceptable boundaries._

" _But none of this is what you want to hear. You want answers, you want to know why all of this happened. And for that, I hope to at least shed the slightest bit of light on these events."_

In the Science Cell, Anko Mitarashi's eyes were fixed to her desk's viewscreen. One hand was placed over her mouth as she stared into the digital eyes of the man she loved. Tears shone in her eyes, but they couldn't stop a lopsided half-smirk from forming as she watched him.

" _Yesterday evening, we discovered that an undiscovered, undetected ship had been towed behind us for the entirety of our mission. Since launch, this cloaked freighter had been following us, tracking every jump and every arc of travel along our path."_

At the Uchiha residence, Sakura Uchiha broke her attention away from the entertainment console that was now transmitting her CO's address to glance down at the sofa. Kara, the human woman who now represented the final member of the human species, was sound asleep, nestled into the soft black cushioning with a thick synthetic blanket wrapped around her. The post-stasis fatigue, combined with the crushing events she'd experienced since waking up, had finally caught up with her.

Sakura gazed at the young woman, taking in the rhythm of her deep, even breathing, feeling a quiet sense of unease chewing away at her.

" _The station, after following us for so long, was sabotaged to enter a collision path with the_ Konoha _by a group of disgruntled personnel. Those responsible have all since left the station, never to return. The shuttle then collided with the station at 0158 hrs ship's time, breaking up on impact._

" _It is with great relief that I am able to confirm that, by the Mother's grace, not a single person aboard the_ Konoha _was harmed during the collision. However, it is with great sorrow, that I am forced to announce that Petty Officer Naruto Uzumaki, of the Enforcement Cell, boldly gave his life in a heroic attempt to divert the course of the ship."_

In a recovery room of the _Konoha's_ medical bay, Hinata was lying between the clean white sheets of a hospital bed. She simply stared at the screen at Kakashi's somber words, squeezing the hand of her cousin seated next to her in a bone-crushing grip. On the other side of the bed, Hiwamari was openly weeping into her brother's shoulder. Boruto had both arms wrapped around his sister, forcing himself to keep his eyes on the screen even as the view of the announcement threatened to disappear behind the clouds of tears pouring from them.

" _Petty Officer Uzumaki was a proud and dedicated member of the_ Konoha's _navy, and he served this station with every fibre of his being. In his final moments, he thought not of self-preservation, but only to protect this ship and the people on it."_

_"Now, we look forward, to our future. The impact with the shuttle has caused the orbit of the_ Konoha _around Site III to destabilize. Though the effects are slight, and cause no immediate danger, they will eventually lead to a collision with the planet itself._

_"And so, it is with the full weight of my rank and station that I form you all that, as of today, evacuation procedures have begun. Within a week, the population of this great station will have been disembarked fully, and will begin the first steps toward establishing our new colony on Site III._

_"My friends, my family... The_ Konoha's _journey has come to a close. Now, it is time for the true journey- the journey of the human race- to begin._ _"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end approaches, my friends. Thank you all for coming with me on this journey.


	13. Epilogue: Eight Days Later

The pale teal sky of Site III had just begun to darken, as nightfall began to creep across the valley. The clouds were still white, just like the clouds of Earth had been described, but the difference in the hue of the surrounding sky gave them a slight seafoam tint in the hours of the late evening. The 22-hours day of Site III was approaching its dusk period as Kakashi Hatake sat beneath a warped tree on the gentle hill overlooking the picturesque hollow that had become the new home of his people.

The evacuation of the  _ Konoha’s  _ citizens had gone just about as well as anyone could expect of such a massive undertaking. The station’s fleet of atmosphere-equipped vehicles had operated non-stop, transporting personnel, equipment and stores to the planet’s surface. Entire modules of the ship, specifically designed for such a purpose, had been removed from their berths and towed down to become buildings on the surface, while other residences and smaller constructions had been built piece-by-piece once the settling parties had arrived. It had taken just over a week to complete the entire migration, and the end result was a smattering of steel structures scattered across a small river valley, carving its way through a massive savannah plain.

The rushing waterway that had formed their new home ran straight through the center of the gulley, and now had rough approximations of streets emanating from either of its banks like a massive, misshapen spider’s web. The settlement was a near-constant bustle of activity, as naval crew and civilians alike began the monumental undertaking of turning this relative wilderness into humanity’s new home. Site III’s terrain had presented its own challenges in this regard; the very soil upon which they walked had a strange spring to it, causing trips and costly accidents in the early stages of development, when a careless or enthusiastic construction crew member would attempt to stride across a clearing carrying building materials only to discover that the ground beneath their feet was only too eager to speed them along. And yet, though all setbacks, they had persevered, and now the beginnings of a small town had sprung up along the banks of this as-of-yet unnamed river. What they had accomplished in such a short time was, in all reality, a huge success.

And yet, when Kakashi spent time on the hill overlooking the settlement, even when confronted with the sight of the small miracle he and his crew had created, it was the sky that drew his eyes more than anything else. The  _ size _ of it, it was unlike anything he could have every comprehended. The simulated skies above the commercial and agricultural sections of the  _ Konoha  _ had completely and utterly failed to capture just how massive the real thing could be.

On this evening, Kakashi knew his quiet respite could not last long. He had a much more important place to be this evening, and as if to remind him, he now saw a figure approaching him up the slope at whose top he now sat, learning against the gnarled trunk of the strange tree that grew alone atop the hill.

Anko reached him in short order, but rather than attempt to rouse him from his quiet contemplation, simply offered him a knowing smile and flopped down onto the dull grey grass beside him, leaning back to lay across him, nestling her head upon his lap. They sat there contentedly for several seconds, neither willing to break the tranquil silence, nor seeing any particular reason to be the one to do so.

Eventually, Kakashi would be the one to deliver the first word.

“You look like you’ve had a productive couple of days.” As he spoke, he ran his fingers through the woman’s pale violet hair. Anko let a small murmur of pleasure escape her lips at the attention before replying, her words tinged with the slightest fog of guilt.

“I know, I haven’t been able to see you for a while now… You know that I wouldn’t do that if I could get away from it. Science cell has been working 24 hours- sorry, I guess it’s 22 hours a day, now. There is such a massive array of things we still don’t fully understand about this planet, I can’t justify working my team so hard if I’m not willing to be there with them. We spent hours today working alongside reps from Akimichi Agriculture, collecting soil samples and exposing selections of vegetation to water sources collected from the planet’s surface, and- This is probably all boring you to tears, isn’t it?” Anko had sat up from her lounging position to sit straight up as the fervor of explaining her work took hold, and now she raised a hand to anxiously rub the back of her head.

Kakashi felt a wide smile creep across his face at the sight of the woman he loved replicating such a core personality quirk of his. “You know that isn’t true. I want to hear everything about how we’re developing, and that includes everything you and your team do. I could listen to you talk for hours, Anko.”

Anko smirked at him, trying her best to hide the slight pink tint that spread across her cheeks at the compliment. 

“You’ve obviously been keeping busy yourself, if the number of times I’ve looked up here and seen you passed out asleep is anything to measure by.”

Kakashi rolled his eyes theatrically. “You know I’ve never been one for diplomacy and personnel relations. I can’t help it, it’s been a week of meetings, government appointments, and endless hours of trying to build a society from scratch, and it bores me to tears.”

Anko nodded. “I’m sorry to be the one to break it to you, but this is only going to be the beginning… This society needs a structure, which means it needs a leader. The people are going to look to you for that, more now than ever.”

Kakashi glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, remaining silent. A handful of seconds passed before she returned his gaze, a slight look of surprise colouring her features.

“You’re not going to take it.” It wasn’t a question.

Kakashi leaned back against the rough wood behind his back.

“Believe me, I’ve thought more about this in the last week than I care to admit. The  _ Konoha  _ and its people mean the world to me, and nothing will change that- but something doesn’t feel quite right about trying to continue on as though nothing has changed. A new world deserves new leadership, a new outlook on the direction that our people deserve, and I think that I’m not the one suited to give that.”

Anko looked at him shrewdly. “Have you talked to him about this yet?”

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. “Who’s ‘he’?”

Now it was Anko’s turn to roll her eyes. “Let’s be realistic here. If you’re not expecting to govern this new society, there is exactly one person in existence that you would trust enough to turn over command to.”

Kakashi reached out and grasped her hand, giving it a brief squeeze. “You know me too well.” As Anko straightened up and moved to stand, he kept ahold of her hand, making her pause before she could find her feet. “Are you coming along this evening?”

Anko didn’t reply for several seconds, and Kakashi saw her body language change every so slightly at the question. Despite the time he’d spent steeling himself for her response, Kakashi felt his heart sink at the implication of her silence.

Then Anko turned to face him, and a war smile lit her face. “Of course, my love. I wouldn’t miss it.”

Kakashi nodded, squeezing her hand tightly before releasing his grip and letting them both rise from the ground. Working the kinks out of his back, Kakashi groaned, turning his attention back to the collection of buildings below.

“Before we head over there, I need to make a quick detour. I’ve been invited for a drink… At Asuma Sarutobi’s quarters.” He glanced quickly at Anko to gauge her reaction as he spoke.

Anko stopped dead in the motion of beginning to walk away from the tree. Kakashi saw he struggle with the thought of what he’d just said, one of the few times in the decades he’d known her to see her entirely speechless. Emotions flickered across her face like a malfunctioning landing light, before she finally managed to sputter out a response.

“You cannot be serious. Why are you bothering to entertain that scum?”

Kakashi had slowly risen to his feet, clutching at the low-hanging branches of his support tree to bring himself to stand. He shrugged at Anko’s question, but didn’t elaborate.

She nodded slightly, huffing indignantly to herself. “Well I can at least take solace in the fact that he’s going to be using up his spirit on you. Don’t go easy, alright?”

Kakashi smiled behind his mask, despite himself. “Well, I would, but it might put a damper on the evening if I show up completely devastated.”

Anko’s face fell at his words, just for a second, before composing herself to return his smile. “Speaking of going out, if you’ve got stops to make, we’d better head into town.” She extended her arm toward him. “Shall we?”

Kakashi found himself reflecting bemusedly as he hooker her elbow with his own, beginning to follow her confident stride down the hill toward the lights of the settlement below. It had been less than two weeks since she’d strode into his chambers aboard the  _ Konoha,  _ sending piercing beams of light slashing through the dark haze he’d been living in, and changed his life forever. The thought that he was now walking arm-in-arm with the woman whose half-joking advances he’d rebuffed for so many years was still slightly surreal, but he couldn’t deny the warmth he felt in his core at feeling her soft touch against his skin. He savored every second of the walk into town, listening to the alien sounds of Site III’s small wildlife, cooing and chirping quietly from the fringes of the clearing.

Striding into the space between the buildings, Kakashi nodded to each person he passed. There was a charged atmosphere to the place, the feeling of an entire legion of people who were still very much engaged in an extremely important undertaking. The former citizens of the  _ Konoha  _ were determined to make this place their home, and had been working tirelessly for eight days to do so.

Once they’d walked down a few of the impromptu blocks, Kakashi stopped. “Do you mind waiting? I don’t expect I’ll be long.”

Anko looked to the side, saw where they’d come to a rest, and nodded.

Kakashi offered her a masked smile, then turned and stepped through the steel double doors that led into the two-part bubble of polished metal that was the home of Asuma and Kurenai Sarutobi.

* * *

If someone had told Asuma Sarutobi, even a week before, that he’d find himself preparing to share a drink (and an  _ expensive  _ drink, at that) with Kakashi Hatake of all people, he’d have told that someone to register for a psych eval. Now, he found himself pouring century-old scotch into a glass for the man he’d just attempted to oust from his job.

_ Then again, it has been far from a typical couple of weeks. _

Asuma was standing inside his gazebo space when he heard the main chamber doors slide open, announcing the arrival of his guest. The entire room, along with the living quarters housing him and his wife, had been detached from the  _ Konoha  _ and brought down to Site III during the evacuation. A small part of Asuma had to admit that it was probably a bit silly, to be clinging to this manufactured approximation of the outside world when they now lived on an actual planet, with honest-to-goodness nature all around. But he was a creature of habit, and he had no qualms admitting it, so he’d been careful to make sure that his little slice of simulated outdoors had followed him to the new world.

Rousing himself, Asuma looked up from the bottle of pale amber liquid on the table just in time to see the (former) Commanding Officer of the  _ Konoha  _ enter through a rectangle of space that opened in the videoscreens on the far wall of the dome, briefly creating the bizarre image that Admiral Hatake had sliced through the sky itself to enter his domain. Then the image was gone, and the silver-haired man was taking a seat at the small round table before him.

Asuma slid a small glass tumbler of liquor across the table toward Hatake. The other man caught it without even looking.  _ Well,  _ Asuma thought with bitter humour.  _ At least this gives me a chance to see what he hides under that mask. Likely I’ll be the first person onboard to do so. _

“You look well, Admiral. I take it the Site III governance plans are proceeding well?”

Kakashi lifted his glass to his face and studied the liquid inside for a few seconds before meeting the other man’s gaze. “Things are going well. Where is Kurenai?”

Asuma sighed. “She’s caught up in operations and won’t be able to join us, unfortunately… Even an entire population being relocated doesn’t completely remove the responsibilities of managing the Sarutobi Corporation’s holdings. She has much more of a business mind than I do.”

“You told your command crew everything, about the clones, about what we are… but you didn’t tell them that I knew.”

Hatake met his gaze evenly, slowly swirling the liquid around in his glass. Outside the gazebo, a recording of a bird chirped happily in the synthetic sunlight.

“I suppose I didn’t.”

“Hatake, I didn’t invite you here to play games. I’m all played out, I think both of us realize that.” Asuma leaned forward, placing his chin on his folded hands. “You had every reason. So why not?”

For a long moment, there was silence. Hatake continued swirling the amber liquid in his cup, his eyes fixed on it.

“You’ve spent most of your adult life trying to break the very bones of this ship, just so you can be the one to watch over its sickbed afterward. By all rights, I should hate you… but I learned a long time ago what hate means. How much damage it can truly cause, to everyone involved.”

Bringing his glass to his covered face, Hatake made a quick motion with his free hand. Asuma blinked. Somehow, half the liquor he’d poured the man was gone, and his mask was neatly back in place, with no sign that it’d even been disturbed in the first place. The  _ Konoha’s  _ Commanding Officer placed his glass back on the table, and the Sarutobi heir’s eyes followed it, utterly bewildered.

“Asuma.” The sound of his first name, coming from Hatake, pulled him back to reality. He dragged his gaze away from the glass and looked the other man dead in the eye.

Hatake pointed to the entrance of the chamber. “Outside those doors, it’s a new world. A new life, for all of us. We start fresh, and nothing that happens up there really ends up mattering all that much; even less so than we realized, it turns out.” He breathed a large sigh out of his nose. “Besides, you said it yourself… what would that knowledge accomplish? What would it change? All it would do is drive people to hate you, and I’ve had enough hatred to last me a lifetime and then some.”

Asuma sat in stunned silence for a few seconds, his own glass of whiskey completely forgotten. Then he smiled ruefully, in spite of himself. 

“I told Kurenai once, while she was sitting in that very chair, that in another life the two of us probably would have been friends. I suppose I was nearer the truth than I thought.”

Kakashi raised one eyebrow. “I think we’re too far out the airlock to call each other friends, at this point. But I’m starting to find that having enemies is exhausting, and I’d rather wash my hands of the whole business.” He raised his glass to eye height, offering it toward Asuma. “Wouldn’t you agree?”

Asuma chuckled, raising his own glass as well. “Not enemies. I suppose I can drink to that.”

* * *

Outside the Sarutboi’s residence, Kakashi found Anko waiting for him. The pair resumed their trek, ambling down toward the lower end of the river valley. Shiny steel structures rose from the ground around them, apartments, stores, and other industrial buildings becoming more and more dense as they traveled along the riverbank to the west, leading finally to a wide expanse of flat ground only a few hundred feet from the mouth of the valley. Several buildings were built in this open area, but one drew their attention in particular, as did the mass of people surrounding it.

It didn’t take long for Kakashi to see who he was looking for. Sasuke, Sakura and Sarada were standing just offset from the building’s entrance keeping a respectful berth from the three figures standing directly next to the wide double doors of the building.

Kakashi stepped forward and clasped Hinata’s hands in both of his own. The look on the violet-haired woman’s face- an agonizing mix of torment, despair, and quiet, overriding resolve- nearly brought him to his knees, but he composed himself and instead reached forward to draw her into a hug.

“Hello, Hinata. I’m so sorry for your loss.”

To her credit, Hinata managed to offer him a small smile in return. “Everything he did, he did in service to the  _ Konoha  _ and her people. I can only hope that the Mother is giving him a glimpse of what we’ve done over the last week, and that he’s pleased by the progress we’ve made.”

Kakashi touched his forehead to hers, sharing her grief. “If he’s looking at us right now, I’m sure he could not be more proud of you all.” He turned to look at Hiwamari and Boruto as he spoke. Sarada had moved forward to grab Boruto’s hand and hold it tightly in her own.

The doors of the chapel slid open silently, revealing Inoichi Yamanaka, dressed in brilliant white presider’s whites. His daughter Ino stood beside him, similarly garbed, preparing to take on the responsibilities of her first Passing.

“Friends, family, we are nearly prepared to commence the ceremony. I would ask now that we begin to enter the chapel.”

Kakashi took one step to the side, clearing the way for Hinata and her children. Hinata reached up to wipe away a single tear before she took Boruto’s hand in one of her own, Hiwamari’s in her other. As a trio, the three advanced through the doors of the large, long structure, the rest of the congregation waiting respectfully for them to pass before following.

“Admiral Hatake!” A voice pierced the hubbub. Kakashi turned to see a young woman with blazing blue eyes and short, crop-cut brown hair standing several paces away from him. For a brief moment, confusion erupted through his brain at the stranger who attempted to catch his attention. Then, realization struck as a memory of his conversation with Sakura slid back through his mind.

_ “She’ll need to hide.” Sakura shook her head briefly. “At some point, people will need to be told, of course- but for now, to have someone around the station that looks like they could be my younger self is welcoming trouble.” _

_ Kakashi nodded. “Kara, you agree?” _

_ The younger woman had contemplated for a moment, then turned to look him in the eye, green orbs flashing with determination. “Hai, Sir.” (the honorific had been jarring to his ears, coming from this complete stranger, but he hadn’t pressed the issue). “If the alternative is to sequester myself in the Uchiha’s quarters and hide like a convict, I’m willing to accept a bit of a change in appearance.” _

He’d never asked what decision had been made as to what Kara would look like, and now he realized that this must be who he was now looking at.

“Admiral Hatake?”

Turning back toward the entrance to the chapel, Kakshi saw Lieutenant Yamanaka looking at him questioningly, her gaze flicking to the strange woman motioning to him for a moment before returning their focus to him. Kakashi nodded and motioned toward the interior of the building.

“I won’t be long. If you could hold off on commencing the ceremony until I wrap things up here, it would be highly appreciated, Lieutenant.”

Ino nodded, waving at the crowd of gathered people to benign funneling their way through the building’s airlock doors.

Kakashi turned to the woman who had approached him, waiting until the people surrounding them both to dissipate before he spoke.

“Will you be joining us in remembrance today?”

Kara’s eyes, hidden behind what he now recognized as a set of brightly-coloured contact lenses, dulled slightly at his question.

“I think you know as well as I do that it isn’t my place. No, I came here because I have something that you need to see.”

Kakashi looked questioningly at the young woman as she reached into the brown satchel bag hanging at her waist. Kakashi vaguely recognized the object she withdrew as a cold storage unit. He returned his focus to her face, raising one eyebrow questioningly.

Kara took a deep breath. “There’s no easy way to explain this, so I’m just going to go ahead and do it. This is a cold storage pod, and it’s filled with about seven hundred thousand fertilized human embryos.”

The silence after her statement rang in Kakashi’s ears. No reply felt suitable for the torpedo of information that had just been fired at him.

“The Ark had always been prepared for the possibility that the human specimens aboard would be…. Compromised… Prior to establishing a new colony. This was meant to be our backup plan, carried out by automatons using medical equipment to seed a new life for humanity on whatever planet we found. The androids weren’t remotely prepared for what was coming, in the form of a deranged scientist with killing intent, but I couldn’t leave humanity’s only chance at continuing up there in space to be atomized in the collision.” Kara took a deep breath, “I suppose I’m telling you this because… Because you deserve to know. You and your people- People, because that’s what you are, no matter what my kind may have thought- are the only reason that I’m still alive and well with this container today. Whatever happens from here on out, I want you to know what we have on this planet. I want to work alongside you, and your people, to make this a world where we can all live in harmony. It’ll be a long, hard road, but I believe that we can make it happen.”

Without another word, Kara slid the white cylinder back into her pack and turned to leave, merging into the crowd of surrounding people before Kakashi could so much as utter a startled word . The implications of what he’d just learned swirled through his mind like stars through a galaxy.

_ Humans. True humans. Living alongside the very things they’d had every intent to supplant once we reached Site III. _

Kakahi leaned against the surface of the chapel’s exterior walls, bemused. Soon, it seemed, the population of the  _ Konoha  _ would truly need to face the truth of their own heritage- and not as a history lesson, but as a concrete fact, in the form of a collection of unborn humans.

_ Sasuke… You’ve got your work cut out for you, in the years to come. I suppose it’s the least I can do, to stay on and help as best I can. _

Kakashi shook his head to clear his thoughts, and ambled his way through the entrance of the chapel just in time to hear the ceremonial words drift out from the inner chamber.

“Today we bid farewell to one of our own, and return him to the stars.”

_ 20 Dec  
2020 _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so the tale of the Konoha draws to a close. Thank you all, it means more than you will ever know.


End file.
